The Last Airbenders (Book Two: Rebalance)
by BatTitan
Summary: Appa is missing and they're in a city full of walls and secrets, and it's not even two days before Rinzen stumbles back across a familiar face. Now she must learn to juggle two different parts of her life without letting either of them crash and burn. [ZukoxOC. Book Three is up!]
1. Walls and Secrets

**Chapter 1: Walls and Secrets**

* * *

"Rise and shine, Twinkletoes!" Toph's voice cut through the early morning silence of the house they had been given in the upper ring of Ba Sing Se and Aang's groan of frustration reached Rinzen's ears.

"Which one?" she answered dryly as she stretched a little, not getting up from where she'd been sitting against the wall all night, half-dozing and half-keeping watch as she normally did at nights.

"The shorter one," Toph retorted and Aang's responding groan of complaint was even more drawn out than the previous one as he forced himself tiredly to his feet to start training for the day and followed the blind girl out into the backyard. Rinzen watched him go, unable to help a small smile as she watched him drop to the ground to begin push-ups under Toph's stern instruction, yawning the whole time.

The last dregs of winter had given way to spring practically overnight and the breeze that passed through the open windows of the house was pleasantly warm, which only made Rinzen a little melancholy for her lost glider. She would have given anything to take it up into the air on a nice spring morning like this, but the remnants of her staff were reduced to ash and buried somewhere at the bottom of the ocean near the North Pole.

She considered asking Aang to borrow Appa before she remembered why they were in Ba Sing Se in the first place, feeling like she had been punched in the stomach as she recalled climbing after Aang out of the desert library's sinking window only to find Appa gone and Toph practically in tears, the first time she had ever seen the blind girl so shaken.

"You look exhausted," Katara noted as she glanced Rinzen's way, folding up their sleeping mats as she spoke. Sokka had wandered out in search of breakfast, leaving only the two girls in the large bedroom. Momo clambered into Rinzen's lap and she rubbed his large ears as he purred contentedly. She had grown extremely fond of Momo ever since Aang had properly introduced them after she had rejoined the group at the Northern Water Tribe and explained to her that he'd found the lemur at their old home in the Southern Air Temple.

"I'm fine," she dismissed, catching Katara's frown at her lack of response. "Really. I've gone longer without sleep, and I feel better keeping watch."

"You know, it's one thing to keep watch all night when we're traveling," Katara said reluctantly, "But we're in Ba Sing Se now. Under a roof and everything. No one would blame you if you relaxed a little."

"That's not as easy as you make it sound," Rinzen sighed as she set Momo on her shoulder, where he curled up as his tail looped around her neck, and climbed to her feet. "This whole place gives me the creeps. I won't feel at ease until we get Appa back, talk to the Earth King, and leave." They had only arrived in Ba Sing Se a couple of days earlier, but Rinzen already wanted to get out as soon as she could. She was used to vast landscapes and open skies after months of traveling, but now felt far too confined in a city with too many walls and narrow alleyways.

Katara glanced out the window, grimacing at the sight of a Dai Li agent prowling along a rooftop several houses away from theirs. "I know what you mean. But at least we can start looking for Appa here, and it's a stable place for Aang to finish his earthbending training."

They looked out into the backyard and winced in sympathy in unison as Toph stamped a foot on the ground and sent Aang flying over the garden wall with a yelp.

"Assuming he lives to finish it," Rinzen deadpanned and Katara snorted with amusement. They had given up on convincing Toph to take it easy on Aang. With the limited time they had to get him to master all four elements, they didn't have the luxury of letting him learn slowly when summer was fast approaching.

"Look, if you're so worried about the city, why don't you go explore it a little today?" Katara offered, drawing Rinzen out of her thoughts as they watched Aang limp pitifully back into the backyard and promptly collide into a large boulder Toph had pulled out of the ground. "Scout around, see if you can find anything about Appa."

Rinzen pursed her lips, nodding a little in agreement. "Yeah, I can do that."

"If you're going out, can you pick up some food from the market?" Sokka complained, poking his head into the room. "We're out of everything edible!"

Katara rolled her eyes, shaking her head wearily at her brother's bottomless pit of a stomach. "I'll go to the market," she reassured Rinzen as she slipped out of the room, "You look for Appa."

* * *

Of all the things Rinzen had expected to see as she wandered through Ba Sing Se that afternoon, it certainly wasn't a small tea shop in the heart of the lower ring with a board outside advertising "Hot Butter Tea!" Bewildered, she took a few steps towards the shop, peering inside. Finding what seemed to be an ordinary bustling tea shop inside, she moved to the counter, requesting the butter tea impulsively and paying a few bronze coins for it.

She waited patiently at the counter until it was served piping hot in a fragile teacup, which she took to a table to nurse. Once it was cool enough to drink, she took a slow sip and for a split moment, she was back in the Southern Air Temple, a steaming mug of butter tea cradled in her hands as she watched Monk Gyatso teach Aang how to play Pai Sho.

"Ah, you must be the Avatar's sister." Rinzen was brought out of her reverie by a smiling, kind-looking man with an apron around his waist. "I am Pao, the owner of this tea room. I was told by one of my employees at the counter that you were here." She mentally cursed herself for not covering up her tattoos, but before she could hastily make her excuses and leave, he added hurriedly, "I don't mean to bother you if you're just looking for some peace and quiet, but I noticed that you were trying our newest tea variety. Does it match up to, well, your standards?"

Rinzen flushed a little under his scrutiny. "I…yeah, it's really amazing," she admitted. "I think I've only had butter tea like this exactly once since my brother and I woke up from the ice." She felt a pang of sorrow as she recalled Iroh treating her with one of the first bits of kindness she had ever experienced on Zuko's ship. It felt like an eternity ago, though it had only been a few months.

"Unfortunately, I cannot take credit for the recipe, it comes from one of my newest employees," Pao admitted.

"Can I meet him?" Rinzen asked curiously, draining her tea and getting to her feet. "I'd like to get the recipe, if that's okay."

"Of course, of course. I'm sure it was yours first, after all." Pao led her around the counter to the back of the tea shop, calling, "Mushi! Someone would like to meet with you about the butter tea!"

"One moment," a familiar gruff, but kind voice called back and Rinzen had to keep her jaw from dropping as Iroh came around the corner, dressed in Earth Kingdom clothes and an apron tied around his large waist. The old man's eyes widened in surprise at the sight of her before he burst into jovial laughter. "Oh, Rinzen, I thought it was you!"

"You two know each other?" Pao asked, bewildered.

"Yes, Rinzen and I met several months ago. In fact, she's the inspiration behind my butter tea recipe." Iroh winked at Rinzen and she couldn't help but grin widely. If he was here, then that meant Zuko definitely was, too. She hadn't seen them since Azula had shot Iroh with lightning weeks earlier, which was even more of a relief that Iroh had clearly healed since then. "Lee is out back, if you would like to say hello to him," Iroh added and Rinzen stared blankly at him. He raised his eyebrows pointedly and it finally clicked that they were in hiding under pseudonyms.

She nodded quickly when Pao turned to her, confused by her long silence. "Right, yeah. It's been forever since I saw Lee, I should say hi." She hurried around them to open the back door.

As she slipped through the door, she distinctly heard Iroh chuckle to Pao, "Ah, young love, you know how it is," which made her flush, her cheeks scarlet as she shut the door behind herself, relieved to see Zuko standing in the alley with his back facing her. He too had an apron tied around his waist and wore dark green Earth Kingdom clothes.

"I think your uncle's trying to start rumors about the two of us with your boss," she said, causing Zuko to start and drop the bag of trash he had been carrying as he spun around.

"Rinzen!" He turned faintly pink, glancing down at his apron self-consciously and then back up at her. "What are you doing here?!"

"Well, I _was_ drinking tea," she pointed out wryly. "It's not like I knew you and your uncle were working here until your boss introduced me to the guy who brewed my tea. Who happened to be your uncle. Speaking of which…?"

Zuko pursed his lips sullenly. "Uncle thinks it might be a 'fresh start' for us." The words sounded bitter in his mouth, but Rinzen ignored it in favor of closing the space between them to throw her arms around him. He froze, unsure what to do, before patting her back awkwardly. "Uh. Hi, there."

"Hi, yourself," she answered, grinning as she pulled back to smile up at him. "It's really good to see you. I'm glad you're both okay."

She could tell the moment her smile thawed him out as he relaxed marginally, a tiny smile tugging at his lips. "It's good to see you, too," he admitted.

"So does this 'fresh start' mean you're not going to be hunting my brother anymore? Because that'd be pretty neat," she pointed out, stepping back fully to frown pointedly at him, and he wrinkled his nose a little.

"Well..." She raised an eyebrow and he exhaled somewhat dramatically. " _Fine_. But that doesn't mean I have to like it."

"I'll take that." She grinned and he rolled his eyes, reluctantly cracking a small smile again in return. Just then, the door behind them creaked open and the smile immediately vanished off Zuko's face as Iroh peered around the door, looking vaguely disappointed to see them standing a good two feet apart.

"I don't want to know what you were expecting to see," Rinzen decided, shaking her head as she nudged past Iroh to head back through the tea shop.

"We live just two buildings down from here," he called after her cheerfully even as she heard Zuko shushing him hurriedly. "Top floor apartment. Come by anytime!"

"Uncle!" Zuko hissed, sounding mortified, and Rinzen couldn't help but stifle a smile as she just waved her hand in acknowledgment before slipping back out through the tea shop to the busy street so that she could return to the upper ring.

As she entered the house, Aang perked up from where he was sprawled on the floor, clearly exhausted after his training. "Did you find anything on Appa?" he asked eagerly and Rinzen shook her head as Momo fluttered down from the ceiling rafters to settle on her shoulder, stroking his fur.

"No, sorry." Aang's expression crumpled into resignation as he dropped his gaze away from her and she felt a pang of guilt as she debated for a moment whether to admit whom she'd seen in the lower circle. "Hey, I ran into somebody today," she blurted out before her brain could catch up to her mouth.

"Really? Who?" He looked up again and looking into his wide, curious eyes, she suddenly found that she couldn't bring herself to say Zuko's name. He _had_ promised he wouldn't try to capture Aang anymore, and he hadn't even asked where she was living, but she couldn't take any chances.

"Oh, just, um...a new friend."

"Ooh, is it a _boy_?" Sokka drawled sarcastically, leaning over the railing separating the raised level of the house from the lower area where Aang was laying.

Scowling, Rinzen snapped back, "Yeah, actually."

Sokka toppled over the railing in shock as Aang gaped at Rinzen. "Really?"

She felt her cheeks redden a little as she ducked her head. "It's not _that_ shocking," she muttered, embarrassed, "I know how to make friends."

"Katara, Toph, Rin's got a boyfriend!" Sokka yelled, recovering from his abrupt fall and surprise, and both Katara and Toph hurried into the room, eyes wide, although Rinzen was sure Toph was only making her eyes bug out for dramatic effect.

"He's _not_ my boyfriend!" she protested quickly, because Katara was beginning to smile a little too widely for her liking. "He's just a guy I made friends with! I only just met him today!"

"Love at first sight's a thing," Sokka muttered sullenly.

"Hey, a boy and a girl can be friends without being boyfriend and girlfriend!" Rinzen argued. Momo chittered angrily when she raised her voice and leapt off her shoulder.

"I mean, she's right," Katara pointed out, although she looked a little disappointed that Rinzen didn't actually have a love life. "Look at me and Aang. We're just friends, and he's a boy and I'm a girl. It's possible."

Rinzen caught Aang's crushed expression just before he hid it as Katara glanced his way. "Um, yeah. Totally possible." He forced a wide smile and Rinzen felt a pang of sympathy for her little brother, having noticed that he'd fallen for Katara practically the day they were pulled out of the iceberg.

"So what's this friend's name, anyway?" Toph demanded curiously, pulling Rinzen's attention back to her.

"Uh...Lee."

"Sounds fake," the earthbender answered immediately and Rinzen felt a stab of panic.

"Lee's a perfectly normal name," she pointed out, keeping her voice as calm as she could.

" _Too_ normal, if you ask me." Toph began to pick at her teeth with a fingernail, seemingly disinterested even though her clouded eyes were fixed right on Rinzen and narrowed suspiciously.

"She's got a point, how are we supposed to stalk him if he's got the most common name in the whole Earth Kingdom?" Sokka complained.

"Uh, you're not?" Rinzen raised an eyebrow back at him. "I can have friends outside of you guys, you know."

"We know," Aang reassured her quickly. "We're not gonna go stalking anybody. _Right_?" He aimed a glare at Sokka pointedly, who sighed loudly and nodded in agreement. Aang glanced at Katara and Toph next and Katara nodded immediately, but Toph was still staring directly at Rinzen, which just made it more unnerving since Rinzen knew she couldn't actually see her face.

"I wanna meet this guy," she said stubbornly.

"After that interrogation, none of you are ever gonna meet him," Rinzen decided and Katara looked even more disappointed. "Look, I appreciate that you're all worried, but he's just a guy I met literally today." She conveniently left out the part that they'd all met him months earlier, anyway. "I don't wanna scare him off."

"Look, we get it. It's fine, really," Aang stepped in quickly to placate her, giving her a bright smile. "I'm glad you're making friends." The sincerity in his voice made her feel just a little warmer towards him.

"Thanks, kiddo." She rubbed his head fondly. "I'm gonna go take a nap or something before I head out again to keep looking for Appa." The surprise on everyone's faces raised her irritation again. "What? I didn't sleep last night! Stop looking at me like I've got two heads!" She stormed into the bedroom, sliding the screen door shut behind herself with a little more force than necessary and unrolling her sleeping mat before dropping onto it unceremoniously. The door slid open just as she turned away from it with a soft "whoosh" and then shut again before Aang took a seat on the edge of her mat.

"It's just, you don't usually take naps," he pointed out quietly.

"I can admit when I need sleep," she muttered and he poked the small of her back gently. She shuffled aside to give him some room, turning to face him as he sprawled out beside her.

"You know, even if this Lee guy _was_ your boyfriend - _which he's not_ ," he added hurriedly as she narrowed her eyes pointedly at him, "I'd be happy for you."

That took her by surprise as she blinked back at him. "You would?"

"Well, yeah." He ducked his head shyly. "You deserve to do something for yourself once in a while." She wanted to protest, insist that nothing and no one could ever come before his safety, but even as she opened her mouth, Aang quickly interrupted, "I know you've spent your whole life looking out for me, and I appreciate that. But you should get to be happy, too."

She felt a thick lump rising in her throat even as she managed a tiny smile. "Thanks. You should, too. With Katara and all."

Aang flushed bright red as he sat up. "You heard her," he muttered, "We're just friends. At least, she sees _me_ as just a friend."

"Hey, just give it time. She'll come around," Rinzen reassured him, propping herself up on her elbow slightly. "You're a great guy, she'd be lucky to have you."

He perked up slightly, smiling hopefully. "You really think so?" For a moment, he hardly looked like the maturing teenager he had become over the last several months, but more like the little boy he had been before the monks had taken him aside all those years ago.

"I know so." She knocked her shoulder against his gently. "Now go tell the others to back off about my not-boyfriend, okay?"

He laughed a little as he got to his feet. "Yeah, yeah. They just worry, you know?"

"I know." She watched him slip out of the room before settling in to take a quick nap, exhausted from staying up all night.

* * *

It was evening by the time she woke up and even Sokka admitted as she came out of the bedroom that she looked better than she had in days. After they ate a quick dinner, they split up to search for anything that could lead them to Appa, and Rinzen found her feet carrying her back to the lower ring until she was standing in front of the apartment building two doors down from the tea shop. Glancing around tentatively to make sure no one noticed her, she headed up the stairs until she stopped outside the top floor apartment door. She raised a fist to knock, hesitated, and then dropped it again, turning to head back down to the street.

"You might as well come in if you came this far to see us." Zuko's voice startled her and she nearly stumbled on the top step, grabbing onto the railing to keep herself from falling. The firebender in question stood at the base of the stairs, looking vaguely amused at her surprise. "Uncle asked me to run out and buy some spark rocks, ours went missing last night," he added in explanation, climbing up the rest of the stairs to join her. "He'll be glad to see you, he likes you."

"You say that like you don't," she deadpanned and he rolled his eyes, nudging her aside to open the apartment door.

"Are you coming or not?" he shot over his shoulder and she huffed before following him into the small apartment. It only had one large room, a stove and countertop against one wall and two cots against the other.

"I was wondering if you'd come, Rinzen," Iroh said where he stood at the stove, sounding delighted as he turned to smile broadly at Rinzen. "Make yourself at home." Zuko gave her a smug look, as if vindicated that he'd proven his point, before tossing the emerald-green spark rocks on the counter and flopping onto one of the cots.

"Why spark rocks?" she pointed out as she took a seat at the tiny wooden table. "Does your firebending not work?"

Zuko made an affronted sound even as Iroh chuckled. "No, no, it works just fine. But we'd rather keep it under wraps." He lifted a teapot in a silent question.

"I guess that makes sense," Rinzen agreed, nodding in response to the offer of tea.

"What I want to know is what you're doing in Ba Sing Se," Zuko said, frowning as he sat up again on the cot. Iroh raised the teapot towards him and he glowered at it as if it had personally insulted him. "I deal with enough tea at work, Uncle." Looking disappointed, Iroh set to brewing two cups of tea.

Rinzen bit her lip, debating if they needed to know the entire truth, before admitting, "Appa's been taken." It wasn't as if Zuko and Iroh needed to know that they were trying to contact the Earth King about the solar eclipse date they had discovered in the desert library.

"Your bison?" Iroh glanced over his shoulder, startled. "Someone took him?"

"Sandbenders in the desert," Rinzen clarified. "They stole him and sold him to someone here in the city. We're trying to find him and get him back, we just got to the city two days ago." She dropped her gaze to her fingers. "Appa's never been separated from us like this before." Sure, they had been separated in the swamp they had been dragged into by some mystical force just before they had met Toph, but Aang had found Appa within a couple hours by searching through the tree at the center of the swamp and they had been reunited only minutes later.

She was dragged out of her thoughts by Iroh setting a cup on the table in front of her and she quietly thanked him as she took a sip, smiling a little at the taste of jasmine tea. After butter tea, it was one of her favorites.

"Are you sure he's here in Ba Sing Se?" Zuko prompted and she looked up at him only to find him watching her contemplatively. She knew he was the only one who really knew how much Appa meant to her and Aang, after the talk they'd had while searching for Iroh when he had been kidnapped by earthbenders months ago.

"The sandbenders _said_ Ba Sing Se," she pointed out.

"I'm just saying it's a big city, but not big enough to hide a sky bison," he pointed out wryly. "Someone definitely would've spotted him sooner, if that was the case."

"I know. But it's the only lead we've got," she confessed, clutching her cup tightly and letting the warmth seep into her fingers.

"You'll be the first to know if we hear anything," Iroh reassured her as he took a seat at the table opposite her and she glanced up to give him a faint smile.

"I appreciate that." She bit her lip. "I'm glad you're both okay after what happened with Azula." Zuko wrinkled his nose at the mention of his sister, but Iroh smiled back at her in response. "You two didn't run into her after that, did you?"

"No, we figured she's just been concentrating on your group," Zuko answered wryly and she rolled her eyes.

"Well, that's probably true." She frowned as she realized something. "Wait, so you didn't hear about the drill?"

"The what?" Zuko looked bewildered.

"The drill that got through the outer wall." She glanced at Iroh, who looked just as nonplussed as his nephew. "Azula had a giant drill built to get through to the city, we just barely managed to stop it before it could get further than the outer wall."

"We got here the day before you did, so we didn't hear anything about a drill," Zuko pointed out. "Besides, in case you hadn't noticed, nobody here even seems to be aware of a war going on except the refugees coming in."

"Yeah, I noticed." Rinzen frowned. "It's creepy how nobody's allowed to mention it. The Dai Li nearly arrested us for trying to talk about it when we got into the city." She left out their attempt to reach the Earth King and their subsequent run-in with Long Feng.

A soft chittering distracted her and they all turned to the window ledge, where Momo was perched precariously with his wide green eyes fixed on Rinzen.

"How'd you find me, little guy?" she prompted with a chuckle, getting up and crossing over to the window as Momo happily leapt into her arms. "I should probably get him home," she admitted, glancing back up at Zuko and Iroh. For a fleeting moment, she thought she saw disappointment cross over Zuko's face before he stood.

"I'll walk you."

"I can get home by myself," she pointed out, frowning now and feeling a twinge of panic that he would find out where she was staying - and in turn, find out where Aang was.

"At this time of night?" Zuko nodded out the window and she found that most of the lights in the city had been extinguished. The trains wouldn't even be running anymore and she mentally cursed herself for letting time slip by so quickly.

"Fair enough," she agreed reluctantly, figuring she could try and lose him at the edge of the upper ring. They said goodnight to Iroh and slipped out of the apartment building to set off down the street. Momo clambered up onto Rinzen's shoulder and then leapt over to Zuko in a swift movement as he jolted a little, startled by the lemur settling on his shoulder.

"He must like you," Rinzen joked and he awkwardly scratched Momo's ears, earning a contented purr as she stared at them. "Wow. I was kidding, but he actually does like you."

"What? I'm good with animals," Zuko said defensively, but scooped Momo off his shoulder again and passed him back to Rinzen. Promptly, Momo leapt back over to him, crawling practically under his shirt. "Hey! Get out of there!" Zuko protested, trying to fish the lemur out of his shirt as Rinzen couldn't help but laugh at his squirming. "Oh, nice to see I'm providing you with some entertainment," he complained, finally getting Momo out and passing him back over again.

"Okay, fine, I'll scold him for you. Bad lemur. Bad, bad lemur." Rinzen made a point of waggling her finger in Momo's face as his large ears drooped dramatically. She settled him back onto her shoulder as his tail curled around her neck again. They settled into a comfortable silence for several minutes as they walked, and Rinzen couldn't help but peek at Zuko's unreadable face once in a while. "So, fresh start and all. That sounds nice," she offered as they passed through the arch into the middle ring. Momo had curled up and fallen fast asleep on her shoulder by then, purring quietly in his sleep.

"I guess." There was a note of bitterness again in his voice as he shrugged one shoulder. "Uncle seems to think it'll work."

"Well, he hasn't been wrong on a lot of things," she pointed out. "Maybe it will. You could probably make new friends here."

"It helps that we're already friends," he blurted out suddenly and she glanced up again to find him determinedly looking away. What she could see of his cheek under his scar was bright pink. She couldn't help but feel a pleasant warmth spread through her chest at the thought; she had hoped they were friends after everything they'd been through together before they had separated at the North Pole, but she hadn't considered that he actually felt the same way. Impulsively, she slipped her hand into his and he glanced down at her, surprised.

"I'm glad," she answered tentatively and, to her surprise, he managed a tiny smile back at her.

"You two!" They both jolted and turned to see a Dai Li agent approaching them from a shadowy alleyway. "What're you doing out this late at night?"

"I didn't realize walking was a crime now," Zuko said stiffly, his shoulders tensing.

The Dai Li agent's eyes flicked up to Zuko's scar and Rinzen felt Zuko's skin begin to heat up as his temper flared, instinctively lacing her fingers with his and squeezing his hand until he glanced at her and exhaled slowly, the heat in his palm against hers fading again. The agent then glanced at Rinzen, his eyes fixing on the arrow on her forehead as recognition dawned in them.

"You'd better get home to your brother, Miss," he said coldly before turning to disappear back into the shadows.

Rinzen stifled the shiver up her spine. "That was creepy," she muttered, pulling on Zuko's hand to force him to start walking again when he just glared at the spot where the Dai Li agent had been. "I hate this place."

"Tell me about it." Zuko tossed another glare over his shoulder, though there was no one there anymore to catch the brunt of it. "What's his problem, anyway? People can walk around if they want to, it's not like there's a curfew."

"Would you relax?" Rinzen tugged his hand again until he finally looked back at her. "They're the police, it's their job to be suspicious. Even if they're creeps about it."

As they reached the edge of the upper ring, she reluctantly tugged her hand from his as he looked back down at her, frowning curiously.

"I can find my way from here, you should probably get back to your uncle before it gets too late," she suggested, her heart hammering a little as she worried that he might insist on following her home, or secretly track her path back to Aang.

"It's probably still a far walk from here," he pointed out. "I really don't mind."

"Look, I really want to believe that you're taking this fresh start seriously," she blurted out before she could stop herself, dropping her gaze away from him to avoid seeing the look on his face. "But if you want me to trust you, then you'll turn around and walk away right now."

Zuko was silent and she dared to peek up at him only to find a raw, hurt expression on his face right before it closed off entirely and he scowled.

"Fine." He turned sharply and stormed off. Feeling guilty, Rinzen almost called after him, but stopped herself, instead turning and heading into the upper ring after she made sure he was out of sight.

She slipped nearly silently into the dark house, only years of training keeping her from yelping with surprise as a lamp flickered on to reveal Sokka sitting in an armchair, his arms crossed sternly.

"And where have _you_ been, young lady?" he said in his deepest voice, but his mouth was already twitching upwards into a grin.

"I'm two years older than you, dummy," she answered dryly, depositing a sleepy Momo into his lap. "And I was with Lee."

"Ooh, _Lee_ ," he teased and she took off one of her shoes, throwing it at his head half-heartedly and taking the advantage of his distraction to slip into the bedroom before he could catch her again.

It didn't matter if anyone teased her now, in any case, she reasoned as she unrolled her sleeping mat beside Aang's and lay down, watching her brother's chest rise and fall nearly silently in his sleep. She had already ruined things with Zuko without meaning to.

* * *

 **It took waaaay too long and a full rewatch of the series to get me motivated to finish the first chapter of this sequel, BUT I DID IT!**

 **I realize this is a huge time-jump, but I thought it would at least be an improvement from the play-by-play recap of the first half of Book 2, especially since there wouldn't be much of a divergence or change in canon aside from Rinzen just being there, you know? I hope this serves as a decent substitute. I'm going to try and carry this sequel all the way through Book 3 as well, so there will be only two "books" in this version of the story.**

 **(And yes I know Ba Sing Se is pretty damn huge and they definitely couldn't've walked the entire length of the city in one night, but just let me rule-bend a little)**

 **I hope you enjoy it!**


	2. Mending Bridges

**Chapter 2: Mending Bridges**

* * *

No matter how many days Rinzen spent in Ba Sing Se, she couldn't shake the feeling that something just seemed off about the city and the Dai Li agents constantly patrolling the streets and rooftops. It didn't help that she felt a twinge of guilt for going behind her friends' backs whenever she snuck off to the lower ring to visit the tea shop where Iroh and Zuko worked.

The first day she returned to the shop after her outburst at Zuko, he was wiping the front counter with a rag sullenly. He looked up, catching her eye, and scowled before turning sharply and disappearing into the back room of the shop. With a sigh, she took a seat at a table once she got a cup of ginseng tea from Pao.

"Well, even if you two seem to be arguing, at least you can always visit me," Iroh offered wryly as he sat down opposite her with a steaming cup of tea. She raised an eyebrow at him and he shrugged. "What? I can enjoy tea on my break."

"In any case, we're not arguing. I think." She frowned as she took a sip of her own tea. "He's overreacting."

"He does tend to do that," Iroh agreed sagely.

"Anyway, I just don't want him knowing where Aang is. Is that so wrong?" She tightened her hold on her cup. "I know you're both trying to start over, and I really believe that _you_ want to. But I just don't know if he does." She glanced up at Iroh only to find him watching her with a little sad smile. "I'm sorry. You're both my friends, but I can't trust him just yet."

"Your brother's safety comes first. Of course I understand that." Iroh reached over gently, patting her hand. "As I said, you're welcome to visit me anytime you like. Lee will come around." It took her a moment to realize he was referring to Zuko, still not used to the false names yet.

"I hope so." She drained her cup and got to her feet. "When you see him, tell him I said I'm sorry?"

"Provided he's in the mood to listen, then of course," Iroh chuckled even as he nodded, waving her off.

It was pleasant to have a friend who wasn't Aang's friend first. As elderly as he was, Iroh had a good sense of humor and kept her smiling as he regaled her with story after story. It almost felt like being back home with Gyatso and the other monks, and she felt a pang of homesickness every time she bought a cup of butter tea from Pao's shop and sat with Iroh during his break. Zuko continued to give her the cold shoulder, but she shoved aside the twinge of hurt each time he pointedly turned his face away from her whenever she entered the shop.

As Rinzen returned to the house one evening after talking with Iroh, she found Sokka leaning on the doorway, seemingly waiting for her. The house was suspiciously dark, considering it was too early for everyone to have gone to bed.

"What're you doing outside?" she asked as she made to step around Sokka, only to have him stick his arm out in front of her.

"Uh, you can't go in," he insisted abruptly, sounding somewhat panicked.

"Why not?" She tried to duck under his arm, but he moved it again to block her way.

"It's, uh, dirty in there. Yeah. Toph tracked mud in and we're still cleaning up after her-"

"Hey!" Toph protested from inside, sounding insulted.

"-and you know how you get around dirt," Sokka finished his lie smoothly as if Toph hadn't interrupted.

Rinzen blinked back at him, confused. "I'm fine with dirt. We've been sleeping on it for months. And why are you guys cleaning in the dark?" She gestured to the dark windows.

"Um, well, uh..." Sokka floundered, trying to think of an excuse.

The door opened slightly and Katara poked her head out. "It's okay, Sokka, we're ready now."

"Ready for what?" Rinzen demanded as Sokka drew his arm back from the door and instead hurried behind her to usher her inside. She squinted into the darkness of the house, but couldn't see anything. "What's going-?"

"Surprise!" The sudden chorus of voices nearly deafened her as several lamps on the walls flickered on to reveal streamers hanging from the ceiling. A large banner was draped across the back wall, the lettering spelling out, "Happy birthday, Rinzen!" She gaped at the decorations, her heart slowly returning to its normal pace from the shock, before her eyes fell on Aang, who was grinning widely.

"It's the thirteenth day of spring, Rin. Your seventeenth birthday." His smile faded just a little at the look of complete surprise on her face. "You forgot the date, didn't you?"

"I...yeah. Kinda." She couldn't help but smile despite herself as she closed the space between them to pull him into a tight hug. "Thank you."

"Aww." Sokka wrapped his arms around both of them. "Team Avatar group hug!" Chuckling, Katara joined in, too, and Toph reluctantly stepped in once Rinzen pulled back just enough to tug her closer by her sleeve.

"It's kind of a good thing you hung out with Lee all afternoon or we never would've gotten all this done in time," Toph pointed out with a smirk as she pulled back and Rinzen rolled her eyes.

"Wait, you've really been planning this all afternoon?" she asked as it sank in.

"All week, actually. You have any idea how hard it is to get personalized banners in this place? _Very_!" Sokka pointed at the banner hanging on the wall as Rinzen shook her head fondly.

"Not to mention our present for you, we all chipped in for it," Katara added, nodding to the wrapped long package on the kitchen table.

"You didn't have to get me anything," Rinzen insisted, but Aang shook his head firmly as he stepped back to retrieve the package.

"We wanted to. Besides, it's about time you got one again." He handed it to her and she hesitated before carefully unwrapping it. A long staff rolled out of the paper into her hands as if it belonged in them, smooth and practically gleaming from the fresh wood polish.

"Is this...a glider?" She moved back a few steps, tossing the staff between her hands experimentally before spinning it with a swift air current to snap it open. The wings of the glider were a dark orange much like her old glider's wings had been, with patterns of silver carvings running along the wooden support shafts and twisting around them like air currents. "It's beautiful. How did you even find something like this?" She looked up at Aang only to find him beaming back at her.

"We found a shop in the middle ring to commission it. I had them use mine for reference." She snapped the glider shut again, leaning it gingerly against the wall before tugging him back into a tight embrace.

"I love it. Thank you."

"If you're done fawning over your fancy new toy, can we have cake now?" Sokka complained and Rinzen felt Aang's laughter against her shoulder as he pulled back.

"I made Monk Gyatso's fruit pie recipe, too." He pointed to the table, which Rinzen now noticed was piled with bowls of noodles and tofu, plates of cakes and cookies, and most importantly, gooey-looking fruit pies piled high with jam.

"Guys, this is..." Her voice broke and everyone around her looked vaguely alarmed. "This is all really amazing." She swiped at her eyes as they began to sting.

"No more group hugs!" Toph insisted quickly and it broke the tension in the room as everyone began to laugh and headed to the table to dig into the food.

Rinzen leaned over to Aang once they were seated at the table, her voice lowered so that the others couldn't hear her over their own conversation. "Best birthday ever."

He smiled broadly back at her. "I'm glad. Now eat your pie." He nudged a pie filled with orange jam over to her and she chuckled as she took a bite, humming contentedly. He watched her anxiously for her reaction and she gave him a thumbs-up.

"Just like Gyatso used to make." She pressed their shoulders together affectionately. "Y'know, if this Avatar thing doesn't work out for you, you could be one heck of a baker."

"Huh. Maybe." Aang wrinkled his nose thoughtfully. "We could name the bakery, uh...Airy Delights?"

"A little on the nose, but cute." Rinzen settled in to enjoy her fruit pie, content to lean against her brother's side and soak in the warmth of the room and the company around them.

* * *

"On the house," Iroh said as he passed a cup of steaming oolong tea to Rinzen the next day, waving away the coins she'd pulled out of her pocket to pay with. She raised an eyebrow at him and he shrugged. "Consider it your present. Rumor has it that it was your birthday yesterday. When the Avatar commissions a traditional Air Nomad glider in this city, word spreads quickly." He nodded to the staff she had placed against the counter while ordering her tea. She had fallen in love with her new glider the moment she had snapped it open that morning and taken off, having been grounded for so long that the wind in her hair and the swooping feeling in her stomach as she guided the air currents around her were intoxicating.

She rolled her eyes as she accepted the cup from Iroh. "In my defense, even I forgot it was my birthday yesterday until everyone scared me senseless last night with a surprise party."

"It was your birthday yesterday?" Zuko spoke up suddenly as he emerged from the back room to grab a stepping stool from under the counter.

"Uh, yeah," she responded after a beat of silence, startled that he was talking to her again. Instinctively, she nudged her staff out of his line of sight, remembering the last time he'd been near a glider that belonged to her.

"Oh." He stared back at her for a moment, his expression unreadable. "Well, happy belated birthday." He disappeared behind the curtain again with his stepping stool.

Iroh began to laugh quietly at the look of surprise on Rinzen's face, which helped her snap out of her shock. "What's he playing at?" she demanded, lowering her voice in case Zuko was still listening. "Is he still mad at me or not?"

"Oh, Rinzen, you have much to learn," Iroh reassured her, still chuckling.

She almost threw her hands in the air in frustration before remembering the hot cup of tea she was holding. "Boys are weird," she muttered instead, shoving the coins onto the counter despite Iroh's protests through his laughter and grabbing her staff before heading out with her cup to nurse it at one of the tables outside.

She glanced through the window into the shop to find Zuko coming back out of the back room, looking somewhat agitated as he kept glancing at one of the customers in the shop. He hissed something to Iroh, who just waved off his concerns, and Rinzen craned her head to look at the customer in question - a pretty Earth Kingdom girl dressed in modest green robes, her dark brown hair braided as she sipped her tea calmly. She got up and went to the counter, saying something to Zuko, who flushed a little - out of anger or embarrassment, Rinzen couldn't tell - and before he could reply, Iroh interrupted quickly with a loud "He'd love to!" that Rinzen heard even from her seat outside.

The girl said her goodbyes and left and it was all Rinzen could do to not grab her sleeve as she passed and ask what she'd said to them. She tightened her hold on her cup instead and stared at the table determinedly until the girl passed her table, looking up only when a shadow fell over her. Zuko was standing awkwardly by her table, looking distinctly uncomfortable.

"You're a girl," he said abruptly just as she opened her mouth to ask him what he wanted.

"You don't say," she answered sardonically, sipping her now-cold tea and biting back a shudder at how bitter it tasted when it wasn't hot. "Now that you've finally figured out I'm female, how's that supposed to help you?"

"That Earth Kingdom girl just asked me out on a date tonight. And my uncle said yes for me." Zuko turned faintly pink as he dropped his gaze to the ground, shuffling anxiously.

"So...what am I supposed to do?" Rinzen asked slowly, trying to process the fact that Zuko had just been asked out on a date. Sure, he was handsome, even with the scar, but she hadn't really considered that other girls noticed it. With his hair grown long enough that it hung messily over his forehead, though, she suddenly noticed that every other girl who passed by kept glancing appreciatively at him over their shoulders. Something about the way they looked at him made her selfishly want to hide him from their sight.

"Well, what do girls expect on dates?" Zuko blurted out, sounding frustrated, and she forced herself back to reality, realizing she'd been staring at him.

"You realize I was raised as a monk, right?" His expression twisted into a grimace as if he, in fact, _hadn't_ realized it until then, and laughter bubbled out of her throat before she could stop it. "Oh, wow. You really thought I've been on dates before. That's a good one."

He scowled before letting out a huff and turning to leave. "Serves me right, asking you for help."

"Wait, wait!" Rinzen caught his sleeve, attempting to quell her laughter and just barely succeeding. "Sit down, will you? I'm not laughing at you." He glowered back at her before dropping into the seat opposite her and crossing his arms sullenly. "I'm just saying, you've probably got more experience dating people than I have."

"Well, I mean..." He glanced around furtively before lowering his voice so that they couldn't be overheard. "It wasn't exactly something I had to put effort into when I was a prince."

"Okay, so you're desperate enough to get dating advice from somebody who's never been on a date. That's fair." She shrugged. "Normally, I'd say be yourself, but 'yourself' is kind of a jerk these days."

Looking offended, he opened his mouth to protest and then shutting it again when she narrowed her eyes pointedly at him. "Fine, I deserved that," he conceded even as she felt his foot connect with her shin under the table.

"Hey!" She kicked his leg back in response and, for the first time since the night he had walked her home, he cracked a smile. Reluctantly, she found herself grinning back at him. "Look, I'm sorry about what I said that night. You can't tell me I'm not right to be a little skeptical, though."

"No, I know. I shouldn't've expected you to just believe me right away." He dropped his gaze away from her. "I'm...sorry for being a jerk these days." It took him a moment to force the apology out, but Rinzen was relieved to find that he sounded sincere.

"We're good." She nudged her foot a little more gently against his ankle to make him look back up. The harsh lines that usually creased his expression had smoothed out, and for once he actually looked like the teenager that he was, and handsome enough that she could see why every girl who passed their table kept eyeing him. "What's the plan for your date tonight?" she asked to distract herself.

"She said we're going to some noodle place, I guess," he admitted.

"So that's simple. Just get dinner with her, don't make up stuff about yourself, and pretend to be interested in whatever she says even if you're not," she pointed out.

"What do you mean, don't make up stuff about myself? I'm living undercover here," he complained.

"I meant don't make up anything ridiculous that you can't back up," she said wryly. "I mean, she's not gonna appreciate if you tell her you, I don't know, juggled in the circus or something and then it turns out you didn't. Girls don't like being lied to just because you want to impress them."

"Fine, so I won't tell her I juggled in the circus." He shrugged. "That sounds easy."

"I'll probably be hanging out with your uncle when you get back, so you can tell me how it goes." To Rinzen's surprise, though, her stomach twisted uncomfortably at the thought of Zuko's date going well. "Maybe bring her a flower or something," she added as an afterthought.

"I guess I will." Zuko got to his feet before pausing and glancing back at her. "You've really never been on a date before?"

She blinked, bewildered. "Of course not. Why is that so shocking?"

He turned bright red. "No reason." He hurried back into the tea shop before she could stop him. Shaking her head, she returned to draining her cup of tea, doing her best to stamp down the unfamiliar swirling sensation in the pit of her stomach.

* * *

"Maybe I'm just not sure about her because she knows about you two or something," Rinzen said as she sprawled out onto Zuko's cot later that night as she and Iroh waited in the apartment for Zuko to come home from his date.

"Or maybe it's because you're jealous," Iroh offered as he poured water into a mug from his kettle.

"Jealous?" she echoed, sitting up and frowning at him. "It's not the Air Nomad way to feel resentment toward anyone."

"Isn't it?" He looked vaguely disappointed. "I was having fun thinking there was some drama around."

She shook her head wryly, but the more she thought about it, the swirling sensation in the pit of her stomach seemed an awful lot like jealousy, especially when she thought about how much fun Zuko might be having with the Earth Kingdom girl - "Jin," Iroh had informed her cheerfully - and what they might be doing in that moment. Were they done with dinner? Were they taking a walk somewhere romantic? Were they _kissing_?

She squashed the train of thought down as her stomach twisted unpleasantly, turning her face into the pillow slightly. It smelled faintly of smoke and incense and she just barely managed to stop herself from burying her face into it.

The door slid open and she sat up as Zuko entered the apartment, his expression stormy as he headed straight for the small washroom without looking at either of them.

"How was your date?" Iroh called hopefully after Zuko, who only slammed the door of the washroom shut behind himself. Iroh glanced at Rinzen, who only shrugged back at him, before the door cracked open again and Zuko peeked back out, a little less angry-looking now.

"It was nice." He shut the door more quietly behind himself and she could hear him splashing water from the basin onto his face. She didn't know why the news that his date had gone well made her feel even more sick as she glanced down at her knees, biting her lip as she got to her feet.

"Well, I guess that's that. I should get home." She picked her staff up and headed for the door after wishing Iroh goodnight, snapping her glider open when she reached the street.

"Wait up!" She turned as Zuko hurried out of the building after her. "Want me to walk you?"

"I can fly now," she pointed out wryly, snapping her glider closed again.

"I could always break your glider like old times," he deadpanned and she clutched the staff closer to herself instinctively. Rolling his eyes, he nodded to the train station on the other side of the lower ring. "Come on, it's not as late as it was last time. The trains are open now, I'll drop you at the upper ring station and head back." She had to admit that plan made sure he couldn't find out where she lived, so she nodded and they set off at a walk.

"So the date was nice?" she prompted after a moment and he glanced back at her, nodding a little.

"Yeah. Although..." His expression turned a little sheepish. "I may have told her I was a juggler in a circus before I came to Ba Sing Se."

Rinzen rolled her eyes. "That's exactly what I told you not to say."

"I don't know, she asked me what I did and I panicked," he protested. "And I couldn't stop thinking about what you said about the circus. If I told _you_ not to think about pink elephant-monkeys, you'd think about them!" Unbidden, the thought of pink elephant-monkeys rose up in Rinzen's head and she shook her head to get rid of it. Zuko looked a little triumphant.

"And let me guess, she asked you to juggle and you royally screwed that up." She grinned at the sour look on his face. "Pun intended."

He wrinkled his nose. "I told her I was out of practice. She didn't seem to mind."

"Well, good for you." They stepped onto the train, which was empty, and the doors slid closed as it took off. "So what did you two do after dinner?" Rinzen asked as she took a seat by the window, Zuko joining her.

"We went to a fountain in a square nearby. The lanterns were all out, so I, um, lit them for her after I told her to close her eyes." He glanced down, embarrassed again.

"You lit them? As in, you used your bending?" Rinzen gaped at him. "What if she'd seen you? You could've gotten in serious trouble!"

"Well, she didn't," he answered defensively. "In fact, she kissed me after I lit them."

Rinzen felt a swooping sensation in her stomach that felt far less like the joyous feeling she got when she flew and more like she'd missed a step going down the stairs. "Oh. Well. Great." She dropped her gaze to the rattling floor of the train. "So when are you gonna see her again?"

"I'm not."

"But I thought you said the date went well," she protested, glancing back up at him in surprise.

"It did, but..." He shuffled uncomfortably in his seat. "It just didn't feel right. It was nice, and she was nice, but I wasn't...me, you know? She doesn't know anything about the real me."

"And how do you know she won't like the real you?" Rinzen offered. "I mean, I get why you wouldn't tell her, obviously, in hiding and all, but she might be non-judgmental, for all you know."

"Come on, be realistic," Zuko said bitterly, looking away again. "I'm the enemy. She's not going to want anything to do with me if she knew who I was."

"Well, I know who you are and I want something to do with you," she retorted, turning a little pink as he glanced up at her again, bewildered, and she registered how that had come out. "I-I mean, things are going okay for us, aren't they?" she added hastily to cover her embarrassment up.

His expression softened into something she'd never seen before. "Yeah. I guess. I mean, we did only just get back on speaking terms after two weeks of me giving you the silent treatment, but, sure, things are going great." She rolled her eyes, elbowing him when she noticed the tiny teasing smile tugging at his lips.

"You're a jerk. Here I am pouring out my heart and you're making fun of me."

"No, no, by all means, keep telling me how you 'want something to do with me,'" he insisted and she elbowed him again, surprised to hear him laughing as he shoved her arm away from his side.

"Excuse me if I just want you to be happy," she grumbled, getting to her feet as the train stopped in the upper ring station. "See you around, I guess."

Zuko hurried off the train after her, grabbing her hand before she could descend down the steps of the deserted station. "What did you just say?" All the humor in his voice had disappeared unnervingly quickly and she turned to face him, confused.

"See you around, I guess?" she repeated slowly.

"The other part," he dismissed quickly.

"I just want you to be happy." Her throat went dry at the stunned look on his face, like he'd been punched in the stomach, and she gave into her instinct to step in and wrap her arms around him as tightly as she could, feeling guilty for making him feel so bad. "Sorry. I just...you deserve to be," she added quietly against his shoulder. She heard him suck in a sharp breath above her before his arms slowly slid around her in return, holding her tightly.

"Thanks," he said quietly after a long moment, his voice hoarse. She leaned back just enough to see that unfamiliar soft expression on his face again and just as she registered that he seemed to be leaning down, the bell signaling the last train departure broke whatever spell was keeping her rooted in place. She pulled back quickly, already missing the warmth of his embrace.

"You'd better catch the train," she pointed out, noticing the confusion on his face. He glanced over his shoulder at the waiting train behind him before exhaling a little, seemingly in frustration.

"Yeah. I, uh...see you." He disappeared into the train and Rinzen watched it take off and round the corner before descending down the steps slowly to make her way back to the house.

Katara was sitting on one of the steps outside, a large clay pot beside her as she pulled a stream of water out and began to twist it in shapes that shimmered under the dim moonlight.

"Were you waiting for me?" Rinzen asked, feeling guilty.

"No, it's a full moon tonight," Katara reassured her. "I just wanted to practice while I'm at my strongest." She looked up, frowning at Rinzen. "Are you okay? You look like something just happened."

"I don't know. Maybe?" Rinzen sank onto the step beside her, watching her continue to bend the stream of water, freezing and unfreezing segments sporadically. "I was talking to Lee tonight. He went on a date with some girl in town."

"Oh, no." Katara gave her a sympathetic look. "I'm sorry."

"What? Why?" Rinzen blinked back at her, bewildered. "What're you sorry for?"

"Oh." Katara flushed a little. "Sorry, I just kind of assumed you had a thing for him and felt bad that he's with someone else."

"I've told you guys a million times, Lee and I are just friends," Rinzen sighed, shaking her head. "Anyway, I was hanging out with his uncle waiting for him to get back from his date and then he did, and he _said_ it went fine, but when he was walking me back to the train station, he told me he wasn't gonna see her again, and I don't get why, 'cause if it went well, he'd want to see her again, right? And then when I got off the train, he-" She glanced up only to find Katara watching her with amusement. "What?" she demanded defensively.

"If he just went on a nice date, why do you think he walked you to the station?" Katara pointed out wryly.

Rinzen frowned back at her. "Because we're friends and friends don't let friends walk to the station late at night?"

"Oh, you sweet, naïve monk." Katara was grinning now, but waved a little. "So go on. What did he do after you got off the train?"

"Well, I told him I just wanted him to be happy, which I guess is a bad thing because he looked like I'd slapped him or something." Rinzen shook her head. "And then I hugged him because I felt like a jerk for making him feel bad and then...I don't know. He was looking at me weird. And leaning down. And then the bell for the last train rang and I told him to go catch it and-" Katara began to giggle, muffling it with her hand. " _What_?" she snapped again.

"Rin, he was going to kiss you!" Katara buried her face into her hands, full-out laughing as the water she was bending splashed harmlessly at their feet. "And you told him to - to go catch the _train_!"

Rinzen just stared at her, bewildered. "He...what? Why would he want to kiss me? He just went on a date with that other girl. And kissed her."

"But he _likes_ you!" Katara protested, struggling to get her giggling under control. "He probably wished it was you instead of her!"

"Okay, now I know you're just making stuff up. He doesn't like me." Rinzen rolled her eyes as she got to her feet to head inside. "Besides, I saw her, Katara. She's pretty."

"And what, you're not?" Katara had finally stopped laughing, sounding a little out of breath, but indignant now as Rinzen turned to face her.

"I mean, not really." Katara pushed herself to her feet and promptly tipped over the clay pot beside her, spilling the water onto the ground at their feet. "Hey! What was that for?" Rinzen demanded and Katara waved her hand in a fluid movement, freezing the water into a pale white patch.

"Look." She pointed at the patch and Rinzen peered down to find that the ice had hardened into a pristine mirror. Her reflection stared back at her, looking vaguely confused, and she glanced back at Katara, shrugging mildly.

"Cool waterbending trick?" she tried. "But I've seen you do cooler stuff, no offense."

"I'm not talking about the ice, I'm talking about _you_." Katara elbowed her pointedly before nodding back to the ice. Rinzen dropped her gaze to her reflection again, taking in her brown hair - long enough that it fell just past her shoulderblades now - and her pale gray eyes and her small button-nose. She looked back up at Katara, wondering what exactly she was supposed to be seeing. Katara sighed when she noticed Rinzen's confusion. "You're really pretty, okay? And if Lee can't see that, then I'll...freeze him." She held up a fist to make her point.

Rinzen couldn't help a tiny smile as she instinctively reached out, tugging Katara into a brief embrace. "No freezing anyone. But thank you."

Katara squeezed her back gently. "Anytime." She pulled back and nudged Rinzen toward the door. "Go get some sleep, okay?"

"Thanks." Rinzen slipped inside the house as Katara thawed the ice patch in front of the house and returned the water to the clay pot.

As she took off her shoes and lay down on her sleeping mat next to Aang's, she had to wonder if Katara was really right, and if she had accidentally messed up her chance to get her first kiss. Sure, she hadn't been particularly happy when Zuko had gone out with Jin, but that didn't mean she wanted him to go out with her instead, did it?

She forced the thoughts out of her head, but sleep didn't come easily to her that night.

* * *

 **Every single time, right before an exam/major project, my writer's block abruptly clears up (it doesn't help that I was rewatching Legend of Korra and reading the post-A:TLA comics lol).**

 **I hope this isn't progressing too quickly, since it's hard for me to determine just how much time they spent in Ba Sing Se in the show. I know they were technically supposed to be there for a month while their request to see the Earth King progressed, but then everything with Lake Laogai happened and the timeline is seemingly a little vague from there so I'm kind of winging it as I go and hoping for the best, lol.**

 **I hope you enjoy this chapter!**


	3. Girls' Day Out

**Chapter 3: Girls' Day Out**

* * *

For all of Rinzen's fretting and worrying the previous night, Zuko didn't seem to act any differently around her the next day aside from acknowledging her presence when she entered the tea shop. She decided not to bother bringing up the almost-kiss - if it even was an almost-kiss - in favor of avoiding the awkwardness of that situation entirely.

To Katara's credit, she hadn't told anyone else about the conversation Rinzen had had with her, and when Rinzen pulled her aside quietly to ask why, she merely shrugged.

"It's not my place to tell everyone else your business," she said simply. "When you're ready to tell us anything, we'll listen." Rinzen decided at that moment that Katara was the best - at least until a few days later when Katara abruptly decided that she, Rinzen, and Toph all needed a girls' day out and dragged them to a spa in the middle of the upper ring.

"I'm pretty sure this place featured in a nightmare I had once," Rinzen deadpanned as she stared up at the giant building with decorations of flowers and vines adorning the outside, a large sign reading "Fancy Lady Day Spa" tacked onto the front gate.

"You're overreacting, Rin," Katara dismissed, rolling her eyes. "It's a perfectly harmless spa."

"What's it called?" Toph demanded and Rinzen read off the sign for her, making her wrinkle her nose. "Sounds like my kinda place."

"Come on, it'll be fun," Katara insisted, grabbing Toph's hand to tug her inside. Rinzen shook her head wryly, but followed them more out of curiosity than anything else. All at once, the heady scents of different soaps, massage oils, incenses, and perfumes nearly overwhelmed her and she picked up her pace so that she was sticking close to Katara's side.

"They better not touch my feet," Toph warned as Katara spoke to the lady at the front desk, who ushered them into a back room to change into soft terrycloth robes. Three attendants then led them out to a large tiled room filled with steam from all the hot water in giant tubs, ushering them into seats so that they could get their feet scrubbed.

The moment Rinzen realized their plan, she cast a warning glance at Katara before looking pointedly at Toph, knowing she wouldn't react well to anyone touching her feet, since they were practically her eyes. Unfortunately, Katara caught on too late and before she could warn the attendant, she had grabbed Toph's foot to begin scraping away at the dirt underneath. With a yelp, Toph stomped on the ground hard, throwing the attendant straight through the wall, and Rinzen snorted with amusement as Katara winced in sympathy.

"To be fair, she did warn us," she pointed out as Katara leveled her with a disapproving look for her laughter.

"No more feet stuff," Toph insisted, rubbing at the sole of her foot to ease whatever sensitivity it was feeling.

"Maybe we should just move on to mud baths, then," Katara suggested, grimacing at the sight of the layer of dirt coating Toph's foot.

Rinzen wrinkled her nose. "Why would people bathe in mud? That sounds gross."

"Better than foot scrubs," Toph decided as she hopped to her feet.

"It's supposed to be good for the skin," Katara explained as they were led to the next room, where instead of tubs full of hot water, there were tubs full of dark brown mud. Katara and Toph wrapped their hair in towels and climbed into the tubs without hesitation, so Rinzen reluctantly followed their lead and climbed in once she tied her hair up with a towel, shuddering at the slimy sensation of mud clinging to her skin. "Relax, you'll get to shower later," Katara reassured her, glancing over and noticing her discomfort. "Just lean back and relax a little for once."

With a sigh, Rinzen leaned her head back against the lip of the tub, closing her eyes and doing her best to relax as an attendant smeared some mud over her cheeks, nose, chin, and forehead before laying some cucumber slices over her eyes. The cucumber slices were surprisingly cool and pleasant against her eyelids and she couldn't help but feel some of the tension leak out of her shoulders as she tried to relax. Several minutes passed and she found herself on the verge of dozing off, but then an attendant screamed and she bolted upright, yanking the cucumber slices off her eyes to see what had happened.

"Toph!" Katara scolded, but Rinzen couldn't stop herself from laughing as Toph turned to face them, her mud mask bulging out from her face to make her look like a squirrel-frog. After a few moments of feigning annoyance, Katara began to giggle, too, and Toph bent the mud surrounding her mouth to form a wide, goofy smile as she grinned proudly.

"In her defense, that's the funniest thing I've seen in a long time," Rinzen chuckled.

After a few more minutes of letting the mud soak against their skin, they climbed out of the tubs and were ushered to shower stalls to rinse off the mud. Rinzen had never seen so much running water indoors before and found herself wishing she could stay under the gentle warm spray forever even after the last of the mud had washed away and she had scrubbed herself thoroughly clean with the citrus-scented liquid soap.

"Rin, I know you're clean, you've been in there for half an hour!" Katara called from outside the showers and reluctantly, Rinzen stepped out to tie her robe back on and put a fresh towel around her wet hair, following Katara and Toph to a small sauna room. The air was heavy with steam as they sat on the wooden benches around the pile of hot rocks in the center.

"Couldn't we just have stayed in the shower?" she complained half-heartedly as Toph kicked a fresh rock onto the pile.

Katara shook her head. "This is supposed to be good for your skin, too," she insisted as she pulled a stream of water from a bucket and splashed it onto the pile of hot rocks, releasing a fresh wave of steam. "It opens up your pores and cleans your skin."

"Being girly involves a lot more skin care than I thought," Rinzen joked as she relaxed a little, leaning back against the bench and waving her hand absently to move the steam in lazy wisps over her head. She could already tell that her skin felt softer than it had in a long time, and attributed it to all the steam and heat it had been exposed to in the past hour they had spent at the spa.

"Well, I guess there's nothing wrong with having nice skin," Toph conceded.

"Look at you enjoying yourself," Katara teased, elbowing Toph gently, and Toph promptly punched her in the shoulder, making her wince and rub her shoulder ruefully.

"I didn't say I was enjoying myself," Toph muttered grumpily and Rinzen shrugged.

"Well, I'm definitely enjoying myself more than I thought I would, so we can count it as a majority win for girls' day out." She high-fived Katara over Toph's head as Toph crossed her arms and slouched in her seat grumpily, even though a tiny smile was tugging at her lips, too.

They finally left the sauna and headed to the last room, where attendants waited at various vanities to do their makeup and hair. Rinzen was surprised at how soft and wavy her hair was once it was brushed out and dried, choosing to leave it loose rather than tie it back like Katara and Toph opted for their hair. Katara chose Toph's makeup colors for her and left Rinzen to choose for herself, leaving her overwhelmed as she stared at the colored palettes in front of her. The attendant took pity on her and nudged forward a shimmery silver palette of eyeshadow and a compact of soft pink blush.

"It'll bring out those lovely eyes," she offered and Rinzen couldn't help a tiny smile.

"I'll take your word for it, thanks." She closed her eyes to let the attendant set to work applying the makeup to her face, choosing a light peach-colored gloss to apply to her lips. She met Katara at the front of the spa once her makeup was done and Katara's eyes widened at the sight of her.

"Rin, you look... _wow_."

Rinzen felt her cheeks warm as she ducked her head shyly. "So I guess the makeup looks okay?"

"If you wash all that off before you go see Lee tonight, I'll make you regret it," Katara threatened, but she was grinning broadly. "You look beautiful. Really."

"So do you," Rinzen answered truthfully. With blue eyeshadow and deep red lipstick, Katara looked even prettier than she normally did.

"Can we go now?" Toph demanded from behind them and Rinzen felt her jaw drop instinctively when she turned around. Toph's hair, normally hanging over her forehead, was neatly combed behind her ears and the rest was tied up in her usual bun. Her eyeshadow was a pale green to match her clouded green eyes and her cheeks were brushed with light pink powder and matching pink lipstick on her frowning mouth.

"Wow, you look great," Katara said honestly and Toph glowered back at her.

"Yeah, yeah. Let's go already, taller Twinkletoes." She grabbed Rinzen's sleeve as she headed for the door, leaving Rinzen to be helplessly tugged along by the earthbender's vice-like grip. Chuckling, Katara followed them out to the street. "I have to admit, it wasn't so bad," Toph conceded as she let go of Rinzen's sleeve once they were on their way to their house. "I'm not usually into that stuff, but I actually feel... _girly_ for once, you know?"

"I'm with you there," Rinzen agreed, instinctively slipping her arm around Toph's shoulders and surprised to find the younger girl leaning into the embrace. "This _was_ pretty nice," she admitted to Katara, who was smiling warmly.

"I'm glad. It's about time the three of us did something together," she said with a shrug as they stepped onto the stone bridge leading to their house. Three girls carrying parasols and dressed in fine green kimonos were crossing on the other side of the bridge and Rinzen noticed their eyes immediately land on Toph as they approached.

"Nice makeup," the tallest of the girls said to Toph innocently.

"Thanks," Toph answered absently as they passed.

"For a clown," the girl added snidely and Toph stopped in her tracks as all three girls began to laugh coldly. Rinzen felt the younger girl's shoulders stiffen under her arm and tightened her hold on them instinctively.

"Don't listen to them," Katara insisted quietly to Toph, but Rinzen was already wheeling around.

"You want to repeat that?" she snapped and Katara grabbed at her wrist.

"Rin, don't," she cautioned, but Rinzen yanked her wrist free again.

"No, I want to hear what their problem is with our friend," she insisted, narrowing her eyes at the girls, who had stopped in the center of the bridge to smirk back at them.

"Oh, we don't have a problem," one of the other girls said cheerfully. "In fact, I think she looks cute. Like that time we put a sweater on your pet poodle-monkey," she added with a snicker to her friends and they all erupted into laughter again.

"Good one, Star," the third girl giggled.

"Let's go," Katara said, although there was a sharp edge to her voice now.

"No, no, that _was_ a good one," Toph interrupted, forcing a harsh laugh as well. "You know what else is a good one?" Abruptly, the bridge collapsed where the girls stood and they shrieked as they splashed into the creek below. Rinzen snorted with amusement at the sight of their drenched kimonos and running makeup as she peered down through the hole in the bridge.

"I take it back about the mud mask, _that_ was the funniest thing I've seen in a long time," she told Toph, who just turned sharply and began to walk again.

Katara scowled down at the girls struggling to their feet before promptly washing them away down the creek with a large wave. "Rude!" she shouted after the screaming girls before returning to Rinzen's side as they both hurried to catch up to Toph. "Those girls don't know what they're talking about," Katara insisted softly, placing her hand against Toph's shoulder to slow her down.

"It's okay," Toph muttered, but Rinzen heard her voice crack slightly. "One of the good things about being blind is that I don't have to worry about appearances. I don't care what I look like. I'm not looking for anyone's approval. I know who I am." Even as she spoke, a tear rolled down her cheek and Rinzen felt her heart twist in her chest as she instinctively moved in front of Toph to stop her from walking.

"And that's why you're one of the bravest, toughest people we know," she said quietly and Toph bit her lip hard as she lifted her head to fix her unseeing eyes on Rinzen's face, one hand coming up to swipe half-heartedly at the tear on her cheek.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. You know I wouldn't say it if I didn't mean it." Rinzen managed a small reassuring smile, even though she knew Toph wouldn't be able to tell she was smiling.

"And I know it doesn't matter to you, but we really do think you're pretty," Katara added, squeezing Toph's shoulder gently, and Toph glanced up in her direction.

"I am?" Her voice was small and tentative.

"Of course you are," Katara said firmly and a tiny, shy smile unlike her usual self-assured grin tugged at Toph's lips.

"I'd return the compliment," she began as they began to walk again, a teasing lilt in her tone, "But I have no idea what you two look like." Taken aback, both Rinzen and Katara began to laugh and Toph joined in as they turned onto the street to their house.

Sokka gaped at them as they entered the house. "Who are you three and what have you done to the girls of Team Avatar?" he demanded.

Katara rolled her eyes and whacked Sokka on the back of his head. "Very funny."

"Where's Aang?" Rinzen asked as she glanced around, frowning when she didn't catch any sight of her brother.

"Oh, I think he said he was going to check out some zoo in the lower ring." Sokka shrugged dismissively. "I _told_ him that if Appa was in a zoo somewhere in Ba Sing Se, we'd've heard about it, but he insisted."

"Well, it's worth a try," she reasoned as she glanced out the window at the sun. It had been late morning when they had left for the spa, but the sun was already beginning to lower in the sky as it edged towards evening. "I should probably get going, I said I'd meet Lee for dinner." Zuko had said Iroh would be busy with errands all day and he had no idea how to cook for himself, so Rinzen had suggested they both get dinner somewhere in town that night and to her surprise, he had agreed.

"Ooh, _Lee_ ," Sokka and Toph crooned in unison, as they were prone to doing whenever Rinzen mentioned Lee around them, and Katara only shook her head fondly, but make a sharp "tsk" sound as Rinzen made her way to the wash basin.

"Do _not_ wash off that makeup! Hands where I can see them!" Rinzen jumped back from the basin, lifting her hands in surrender. "You look pretty. Lee will want to see it." Katara pointed at her warningly. "If you wash it off, you're...I don't know, grounded or something."

Rinzen raised an eyebrow at her. "Grounded? What are you, my mother?" Belatedly, she added, "I'm older than you!"

Katara flushed a little, sputtering, "W-Well, I, that is, um...oh, you know what I mean, just _go_. No washing your face." Shaking her head with a chuckle, Rinzen said her goodbyes to a snickering Sokka and Toph before leaving for the train station, deciding to leave her glider at the house.

* * *

Zuko opened the door to the apartment almost the instant Rinzen knocked, his mouth falling open as he stared at her wordlessly.

"I know, I look stupid, but Katara wouldn't let me wash my face before I left," she grumbled as she shuffled self-consciously, belatedly wishing she had thought of just wiping off the makeup the moment she was out of Katara's sight.

"Uh." He blinked at her, seemingly bemused as his cheeks turned a faint pink. "Stupid's not the word I'd use."

She raised an eyebrow back at him. "Well, what word _would_ you use?" He opened his mouth, clearly ready to say it, before closing it just as quickly and shrugging uncomfortably instead as he pressed his lips firmly together. Shaking her head wryly, she stepped back to beckon him out of the apartment. "Come on, before I change my mind and make you cook your own dinner." He huffed before stepping into the hallway, locking the door behind himself.

"As if you'd do that," he answered as he followed her down the stairs and out of the building. "You and I both know I'd burn the place down if I tried to cook, with or without bending."

"I mean, fair enough, spirits forbid I'm the reason you get more burn scars." He leveled her with a sour look and she grinned. "Too soon?" He rolled his eyes, elbowing her gently in response. "I can't cook, either, if it helps you feel better," she reassured him.

"You can't?" He raised an eyebrow at her curiously.

"What, is it surprising because I'm a girl or something?" she demanded and his eyes widened as he opened his mouth to defend himself quickly before noticing her biting her lip to stifle a smile.

"You're teasing me," he accused, scowling.

"I am," she confessed with a laugh, catching his elbow before he could dig it into her side again and shoving it back as she pointed out, "I can't help it if you're easy to rile up."

"Why _are_ you wearing makeup, anyway?" he asked instead, changing the subject, and she shrugged.

"Katara decided we needed a girls' day out, so she dragged me and Toph to a day spa." Zuko snorted suddenly and she raised an eyebrow at him. "What?"

"Sorry, just - that tough-looking earthbender who looks like she hasn't taken a bath in months? At a _spa_? How'd she handle that?" he asked and she couldn't help but chuckle at the genuine curiosity in his voice.

"Surprisingly well once she scared all the spa attendants out of their minds," she admitted, surprised when he laughed in response. She was starting to see him smiling and laughing more and more around her and it was both unnerving and pleasant.

"What about you?" The question took her off-guard.

"What?"

"I mean, it was a new experience for you, right? I'm pretty sure they didn't have spas like those a hundred years ago," he pointed out dryly and she shook her head.

"If they did, I definitely didn't know about them. Not like I was particularly well-traveled back then, I left that to Aang." She shrugged a little. "It was nice, though, I guess. They went a little overboard at the end, obviously." She gestured vaguely to her face and he shook his head immediately, to her surprise.

"No, it's nice. You look nice." He ducked his head away from her, flushing again, and she couldn't help but smile as she slipped her hand into his. His palm was warm and rough against hers.

"Thanks." He glanced back up at her, giving her a small smile in return as his fingers closed around hers to squeeze them lightly.

"We're here," he said as they came to a stop outside a small noodle restaurant.

"Is this the place you went to with Jin the other night?" she asked curiously and he shrugged a little.

"What? The food's good." He tugged her hand gently until she followed him inside and to a table. "Something vegetarian, right?" Surprised that he remembered, she nodded and watched him head to the counter to place orders for both of them and wait for their food to arrive.

As she waited, she glanced around the table, noticing a small inkwell, a feather quill, and a stack of cards with the words "Give us your feedback!" printed in neat calligraphy over the top. Absently, she grabbed one of the cards and turned it over, picking up the quill after dipping it in the ink to doodle little patterns against the card.

"I didn't know you could draw," Zuko noted as he returned to the table, two bowls of noodles in hand as he set one down in front of her before taking a seat opposite her.

"I can't, they're just doodles," she dismissed, setting aside the quill and card, and he reached over to take the card and examine it.

"No, these are really good," he insisted, sounding surprised. "Is this supposed to be your bison?" He pointed to the little drawing of Appa she had done in the corner and she nodded.

"Yeah. That's how he looked when he was a baby, when Aang and I first met him at the Eastern Air Temple."

"Not at the Southern Temple?" Zuko passed the card back to her before starting to eat and she shook her head as she followed his lead and took a bite of her noodles. The broth was rich and flavorful, and full of pieces of tofu and vegetables.

"No, we always went to the other temples at least once a year, and the Eastern Temple was mainly where they raised sky bison herds. We had them in the South, too, but not as many."

"So what did the other temples do?" She was surprised to find him watching her with genuine interest when she looked up from her bowl.

"Well, the Southern Temple was usually in charge of charity work. We used to make fruit pies and crafts and things, sell them to neighboring villages and give the profits to charities in the area. The North was where we learned most of our airbending. The monks there were really into the traditional severing of earthly attachments."

Zuko wrinkled his nose. "Sounds like fun."

Rinzen couldn't help a laugh as she nodded. "Yeah, I wasn't a fan of that place. And the Western Air Temple was mainly where we received our mastery tattoos." She tapped the arrow on her forehead. "Normally, I'd've been sent to the Eastern or Western Temple when I was five, but then they found out Aang was the Avatar and I had to stay behind to look out for him instead." Noticing Zuko's frown of confusion, she explained, "Boys were raised in the North and South, girls in the East and West."

"I went to the Western Air Temple once," he admitted, "In my first week of banishment, when I started searching for the Avatar."

Rinzen shrugged. "Even if airbenders were still around then, you wouldn't've found Aang there."

"Well, I know that _now_ ," he huffed, rolling his eyes as he dropped his gaze back to his bowl of noodles to focus on eating. Between bites of her own food, Rinzen studied him curiously, wondering how he might have looked in his first week of banishment, standing in the ruins of the Western Air Temple. He would have just received his scar, then, perhaps still bandaged and fresh. Before she knew it, she was grabbing a fresh card and the quill to begin sketching again, her mostly-empty bowl forgotten. "What're you drawing now?" Zuko asked when he noticed, trying to peer around the bowl at the card.

"Just give me a second." She paused when she reached the left side of the incomplete face, hesitating before forgoing her original plan and mirroring the right side of his face instead. She drew his hair tied back in a long ponytail the way it had been when she had first met him, coloring in the top of his head with a few drops of dark ink. She nudged the card over once it was done. "That seem accurate?" He took the card, staring at it silently for several long moments. For a split second, she felt a twinge of worry that she'd upset him, but then he nodded, looking back up at her.

"Yeah. That's how I looked before." To her relief, he gave her a small smile. "See? I told you you could draw. You actually made me look good."

"Wasn't that hard to do," she blurted out before her brain caught up to her mouth and her cheeks reddened as she fixed her gaze on the edge of the table, trying not to meet his eyes.

A palpable silence hung between them for a moment before Zuko cleared his throat awkwardly. "Um. Thanks." He hesitated before holding up the card. "You mind if I keep this?"

"No, of course not, it's yours." She watched him pocket the card, still a little surprised he had liked it. A sudden wave of cheering and talking outside distracted her and she peered out the window to the street to see a large crowd of people, all carrying lit lanterns and heading down towards a lake. "What's going on?" she asked, glancing back at Zuko as he shrugged in response.

"Oh, the lantern festival must be starting," a waiter passing by their table informed them. "Happens once a year, people usually light some paper lanterns and send them floating off over Lake Laogai." He collected their bowls and headed back behind the counter of the restaurant.

"We could check it out," Zuko offered and Rinzen blinked back at him, surprised.

"You want to?" He just shrugged again, looking suddenly less confident in his offer. "Okay, sure," she decided, getting to her feet as he did the same. "We'd need lanterns, though."

He pointed to a stall just down the street as they left the restaurant. "They're selling some. Give me a minute." She waited as he headed to the stall, speaking to the man on the other side before passing him a copper coin and accepting two unlit paper lanterns in return. Once his back was turned to the man, he pinched the wicks inside the lanterns, lighting them quickly.

As he returned to Rinzen and passed one of the lit lanterns over to her, she pointed out wryly, "Last I checked, you're not supposed to be conjuring fire out of thin air."

"It's fine, no one noticed," he dismissed, cradling his lantern carefully to keep the fire going inside as he nodded to the crowd heading for the lake. "Come on." She followed him to the lake, clutching her lantern carefully.

By the time they reached the edge of the lake, people were already pushing their lanterns into the air, the soft orange flickering of the little flames through the thin paper of the lanterns creating a warm glow over the glassy surface of the lake and the surrounding bank. Even the little kids running between the crowd stopped to admire the lanterns bobbing over the lake surface.

"We should set ours off," Zuko pointed out and Rinzen nodded, carefully pushing her lantern into the air as he did the same for his. Instinctively, she slipped her hand into his as they watched the lanterns float lazily up and over the lake, spinning around each other as if they were dancing in circles as they joined the myriad of other lanterns in the sky.

"Wow," she found herself breathing as the lanterns drifted into the dark sky, their reflections mirroring them in the lake below.

"Yeah." To her surprise, Zuko sounded just as quietly stunned as she did, and she snuck a peek at him only to find him looking back at her instead. She felt her cheeks warm when she realized he was leaning down just like he had that night, biting her lip hard as she turned to face him properly. If he was going to kiss her this time, at least she was ready for it.

"I was wondering if you two would be here!" Iroh's jovial voice suddenly cut in and Zuko jerked back as if he'd been burned, dropping Rinzen's hand and turning to face Iroh as the older man joined them in the crowd. "It's quite a lovely sight, isn't it, nephew?" He clapped Zuko's shoulder as he nodded to the lake.

"Yeah. It's nice," Zuko muttered, sounding irritated. He glanced over at Rinzen briefly, but the moment had already disappeared.

"I should probably get home," she said and Zuko opened his mouth to protest, but she turned her back on him quickly and disappeared into the crowd easily to make her way back into town.

As she slipped into the house, Katara perked up. "Well? Did he kiss you this time?"

Rinzen shook her head wryly as she moved to wash her face free of makeup, finally feeling more like herself once all of the eyeshadow and lip gloss was washed away. "I think he was going to, but then his uncle interrupted us." Katara made a disappointed sound. "Where is everyone?" Rinzen asked as she toweled her face dry, looking around and noticing how empty the house was.

"Oh, they went to check out the lantern festival by the lake," Katara answered with a shrug. "I watched a little of it before I came back here. Did you see it?"

Rinzen felt a stab of panic as she wondered if they had seen her at the lake, or worse, recognized Zuko beside her. Then again, there _had_ been a large crowd, and they could easily have been somewhere far away. "Uh, no. I mean, I saw it from a distance with Lee, but we weren't down at the lake," she lied.

"Oh, that's a shame," Katara said mildly. "It was really pretty, seeing all those lanterns."

"Yeah, I'll bet." Rinzen didn't let herself relax until Aang, Sokka, and Toph came home nearly an hour later, laughing and talking about all the lanterns they had seen - or in Toph's case, felt as she held one and sent it flying. Aang hurried over to Rinzen immediately, describing how beautiful it had been to see the lanterns glowing over the mirror-like surface of the lake and how many people had been there, but made no mention of seeing her or Zuko, which was relieving.

"Oh, and I kind of made a zoo outside the inner wall today, so I want you to see that tomorrow," he added sheepishly, drawing her out of her thoughts.

"You made a _what_?"

* * *

 **It occurred to me just as I was finishing this chapter that this suddenly had a very Tangled-esque vibe. I swear I was thinking about an actual lantern festival that happens in Thailand, not the scene from Tangled, lol. Whoops ^^'**

 **Hopefully you enjoyed this quick update while I finish up the semester and I'll try to get another one up soon!**


	4. Under the Lake

**Chapter 4: Under the Lake**

* * *

Rinzen jerked awake and forced herself upright, breathing hard as she did her best to slow her racing heart. She glanced at the window only to find that it was still dark, but the faintest traces of light blue and pink were beginning to make their way across the horizon. Exhaling quietly, she slipped to her feet and headed out of the bedroom to splash water on her face before settling down at the kitchen table with a cup of hot tea, sipping on it as she began to sketch on a large piece of parchment.

"Rin?" Aang yawned as he came out of the bedroom, pouring himself a cup of tea from the pot she had brewed before sitting opposite her. "What're you doing up? The sun isn't even up yet."

"I could ask you the same thing," she answered, glancing up and frowning as she nudged his foot with hers under the table. "What's wrong?"

He bit his lip, dropping his gaze to his cup. "I had a bad dream about Appa. Just this feeling he was in trouble, you know?"

She nodded in agreement. "Yeah. It's why I'm up, too," she confessed. She couldn't quite remember the dream now, the details slipping out of her memory like water through a sieve, but she couldn't shake the feeling that something was very wrong and they didn't have much more time to waste in looking for Appa. She turned the parchment she had been drawing on in his direction. "I was designing a missing poster for him. We could find a printer and get them mass-produced, put these up around town."

He nodded in agreement, studying the flyer for several moments before he finally registered what he was looking at. " _You_ drew this?" he asked, looking up at her with surprise, and she shrugged mildly, feeling suddenly self-conscious.

"I mean, I'm sure we can get a better-designed one, I just wanted the printer to get an idea of-"

"No, no, this is perfect. I just didn't know you could draw. I guess I'm still learning things about you even after all this time." Aang gave her a bright, albeit tired smile, before looking back down at the detailed sketch of Appa she had done. "It looks just like him." He avoided touching the wet spots of ink as he traced his fingers over the image slowly, as if imagining running his fingers through Appa's thick, soft fur, and Rinzen could see the longing and anguish written in every line of his face.

"I miss him, too," she admitted quietly and he glanced back up at her, managing a tiny smile.

"We'll find him soon, Rin," he reassured her.

"I hope so." She got to her feet, heading for the stove to turn it on with some spark rocks so that she could boil some water for some porridge for breakfast. "We'll see if we can find a printer in the middle ring once the shops open for the day," she added over her shoulder.

"Sounds like a plan," he agreed. By the time the porridge was done, the sun had risen and the others had arrived in the kitchen, admiring the drawing Rinzen had done of Appa as she set out bowls on the table along with containers of sugar and cinnamon.

"We're not running out of porridge anytime soon," Katara pointed out as Aang began to shovel spoonfuls of porridge into his mouth quickly the moment he mixed in some sugar.

"I know, but I wanna go find a printer as soon as I can," he insisted before going back to eating as quickly as he could.

"Don't go making yourself sick over it," Rinzen warned as she kicked his ankle gently under the table and he obediently slowed down a little.

Once they had both finished their bowls, they said goodbye to the others and headed out to the train station, which had just opened for the day. Once or twice, Rinzen caught Aang staring at the sketch of Appa she had done, his expression set in grim determination.

"I can't stop feeling like something's wrong," he said quietly when he looked up and caught her eye. "Like he's being hurt somewhere."

"I know." She squeezed his shoulder lightly. "We'll find him, Aang, I promise."

* * *

When they reached the middle ring, they found a printer who had just opened his shop for the day and passed on their flyer to him to make copies, which they then picked up and returned to the house to divide into two piles. Katara, Sokka, and Toph took one pile to start pasting the flyers on the walls around the city while Aang and Rinzen took to their gliders, scattering flyers from the air as they flew over the city.

"You guys hear anything from anyone?" Aang asked hopefully as they returned to the house to find Katara, Sokka, and Toph slumped inside on chairs, exhausted from walking all morning.

"We have to give it time," Katara pointed out wearily. "We only just put the flyers up."

With a forlorn sigh, Aang slumped into a chair and Rinzen patted his shoulder gently. "Just be patient," she reassured him. "We'll find something soon."

Almost as soon as she finished her sentence, a knock came on the door and Aang perked up. "Hey, what do you know? Patience really does pay off!" Rinzen shook her head fondly as Aang hopped up and went to answer the door, his smile fading the moment the door swung open to reveal Joo Dee on the other side. "Joo Dee?" he exclaimed, bewildered.

Joo Dee smiled eerily. "Hello, Aang and Katara and Rinzen and Sokka and Toph." Her words were carefully enunciated in a way that made a chill roll down Rinzen's spine as she joined Aang at the door, placing a hand on her brother's shoulder.

"What happened to you?" Sokka demanded behind them. "Did the Dai Li throw you in jail?"

"Jail?" Joo Dee scoffed, but kept smiling stiffly. "Of course not. The Dai Li are the protectors of our cultural heritage. I was simply on vacation at Lake Laogai. It was quite relaxing."

"Lake Laogai? Where the lantern festival was?" Rinzen confirmed, glancing down at Aang as he nodded.

"Yeah, that's where-" He paused, frowning back at Rinzen. "Hang on, I thought you and Lee didn't go to the festival. How'd you know where it was?"

She mentally kicked herself even as she quickly covered up, "Uh, we didn't go, but we heard people talking about where it was."

Aang shrugged, seemingly buying it as he turned back to Joo Dee, but Rinzen caught Toph's narrowed eyes staring in her direction as the earthbender leaned on the wall nearby.

"The Dai Li replaced you with some other woman who also said her name was Joo Dee," Katara pointed out warily and Joo Dee blinked back at her innocently.

" _I'm_ Joo Dee."

"Why are you here?" Aang sighed, clearly realizing they were going in circles, and Joo Dee held up one of the flyers they had been scattering around the city.

"Dropping flyers and putting up posters isn't permitted within the city without proper clearance."

"Are you kidding me?" Rinzen snapped as she snatched the flyer out of Joo Dee's extended hand. "Do we have to wait for permission to do literally _anything_ in this city?"

Joo Dee's eyes widened a little, the corner of her eerily-wide smile twitching slightly. "I...don't know what you mean. We have rules here and we would ask that inhabitants of the city follow them. Y-You are absolutely forbidden to continue putting up-"

"We don't care about your rules!" Aang shouted suddenly, startling even Rinzen. "And we are _not_ asking permission!" He shrugged Rinzen's hand off his shoulder as he began to shove Joo Dee further out of the doorway. "We're going to find Appa on our own and _you_ can just stay out of our way!" He slammed the door shut in Joo Dee's face before turning back to the others, scowling. "I'm done playing by these people's rules. We're going to do whatever it takes to find Appa."

"Yeah!" Toph perked up, grinning broadly. "Let's break some rules!" She stomped on the ground and the wall behind her disintegrated into a pile of rubble.

"Seriously?" Rinzen pointed out wryly as they opened the door to leave, relieved to find Joo Dee gone from the doorstep. "You had to destroy the house to make your point? The house didn't do anything wrong."

"Eh, I'll fix it later," Toph dismissed, waving a hand as they each took a new pile of flyers to begin pasting them around the city again.

"Let's split up," Katara decided as they reached a wall, spreading a little paste on it before putting up a flyer. "Aang and I can stay here in the upper ring and put these flyers up. Sokka and Toph, you should take the middle ring, and Rin, you can take the lower ring. That way, if you see Lee, you can rope him into helping out, too."

Rinzen rolled her eyes even as she nodded, but Toph snapped, "Why do I have to go with somebody? What, you think I can't put up flyers by myself?" She snatched the paintbrush from Katara, smearing paste roughly on the wall before slamming a flyer backwards against it. A long awkward pause followed before she sighed. "It's upside-down, isn't it?" When no one had the heart to correct her that it was backwards instead, she just shook her head. "I'll just go with Sokka."

With that, they split up, Rinzen stuffing her pile of flyers into a large bag as she hopped onto the train to head to the lower ring and begin pasting flyers on the walls. She narrowed her eyes at every Dai Li agent who passed her and raised an eyebrow pointedly in disapproval of what she was doing, making a point to smooth down the flyers as neatly as she could to show that they were there to stay.

"Showing off your artwork?" She started at the sound of Zuko's voice, glancing behind her to see him reading the flyer over her shoulder curiously.

"Oh, uh, no. Putting up missing flyers for Appa," she explained.

"That seems awfully sudden." Zuko's nose wrinkled in thought as he examined the poster. "Did you get any new leads on him recently?"

"Not yet, but I can't shake this feeling that something's just...wrong. I don't know. Either way, Aang and I thought it'd be a good idea to start spreading the word and see if anything turns up." She tucked the rest of the flyers into her bag. "Think I could convince Pao to put up a couple flyers in his shop?"

Zuko cracked a wry smile. "You could, but you're better off putting up flyers in Uncle's new tea shop."

It took Rinzen a moment for the words to sink in before she smiled broadly. "That's amazing! He's really getting his own shop?"

"A few men from the upper ring came by this morning and offered it to us. It's just down the street from the Earth King's palace." He didn't look as happy as she thought he would be, which made her frown a little.

"What's wrong with that? It sounds like a pretty sweet deal."

"Nothing, I guess." He shrugged one shoulder. "So you're really okay with us moving to the upper ring? Figured you wouldn't want us so close to where you were living."

"What?" The thought hadn't even crossed her mind, but now that she considered it, something about having Zuko so close to Aang made her heart beat a little faster with panic. "Um, no, it's not a big deal. It's a huge city. We probably wouldn't even run into each other," she reasoned, trying to cover it up.

"Yeah. I guess." Zuko's expression tightened a little and she knew he had noticed the hesitation in her voice.

A sharp intake of breath behind them distracted Rinzen and she turned to see a Dai Li agent who had stopped in his tracks on the street behind them, staring at the poster of Appa on the wall.

"You got a problem?" she snapped at him and he shook himself out of whatever daze he was in.

"Uh, no, ma'am." He hurried away and Rinzen glanced back up at Zuko only to find him studying the Dai Li agent's retreating back consideringly.

"What is it?" she asked, brushing her fingers against his briefly to get his attention, and he jerked back like he had been burned. She didn't know why the knee-jerk reaction made her feel a little hurt.

"Nothing. I should get back to helping Uncle pack our things." Before she could stop him, he turned sharply and headed down the street, disappearing into the crowd. She took a step forward to follow him, but abruptly, a weight landed on her shoulder and she turned to find Momo chittering anxiously at her.

"What is it, Momo?" She stroked his large ears and he took off, soaring ahead before landing on a sign outside of a shop and then turning to stare at her. As she followed him, he took off again, clearly wanting her to follow him. She kept following the lemur down the streets until she found herself outside an apartment building. Momo landed on her shoulder, preening himself happily now that his job was done. Walking up the stairs, she heard Katara's muffled voice through the door and knocked on it tentatively. The door swung open to reveal Aang on the other side and Momo squeaked as he hopped over to Aang's shoulder.

"Good job, buddy, I knew you'd find her," he praised, rubbing Momo's ears gently.

"What are you guys even doing here?" Rinzen asked as she entered the apartment, frowning at the sight in front of her. Katara, Sokka, and Toph were surrounding a teenage boy sitting in a wooden chair with his head in his hands, two other strangers standing behind him.

"Rin, this is Jet, and his friends Smellerbee and Longshot," Aang introduced. "We've met them before. Jet says he knows where Appa is, but the Dai Li brainwashed him into forgetting, so we're trying to get his memories back."

"Brainwashed?" Rinzen echoed, feeling as if her head was spinning as she took a seat on the edge of the bare mattress in the corner of the room. "They can do that now?"

"They took me somewhere," Jet explained, sounding exhausted as he rubbed his forehead. "Underground, there was a bunker of tunnels stretching for miles under the city. They took me to a chamber and kept circling this light around me, constantly repeating that there was no war in Ba Sing Se."

"Jeez." Rinzen suppressed a shiver. "I wonder how many other people they've brainwashed like that in the city. No wonder this place is so weird."

"You said it," Toph agreed with a grimace.

"What else can you remember?" Katara prompted Jet, who grimaced.

"The place they took me to, it was underwater, I think. Under a lake."

"Wait, a lake?" Sokka perked up from where he was leaning on the wall. "Do you guys remember what Joo Dee said? She said she went on a vacation to Lake Laogai."

"That's it!" Jet agreed, nodding fervently as he looked up. "Lake Laogai. That's where they took me."

"Well, you guys know where that is, right? It's where the lantern festival was," Rinzen pointed out as she glanced at Aang, who nodded in agreement.

"That has to be where they're holding Appa." His expression was set in determination as he made his way to the door. "We have to get there as soon as we can." Jet got to his feet shakily from his chair, nodding as he followed Aang out. Rinzen glanced at the others, who looked just as uneasy as she felt, before reluctantly heading for the door as well.

As they headed down the street towards the path that lead to the lake, Rinzen bit her lip when she noticed they were passing by Zuko and Iroh's apartment building. She debated for a moment whether to tell them about the new lead on Appa's location before coming to a decision. She needed to trust Zuko more that he wanted to change, and that meant letting him in a little.

"You guys go ahead," she blurted out, causing everyone to turn and look back at her. She flushed a little under the sudden weight of everyone's eyes on her. "I'll meet you at the lake, I just need to talk to Lee. I'll join you in a minute, promise." It took a moment, but Aang nodded and continued on as the others followed him. Only Toph narrowed her eyes at Rinzen pointedly before turning and heading after the rest of the group. Exhaling a little in relief, Rinzen turned and hurried into the apartment building, nearly colliding with Iroh halfway up the stairs.

"Oh!" He peered at her around the box of belongings he was carrying. "Rinzen, if I knew you were coming, I would have put on some tea for you."

"I'm not staying," she reassured him. "I just needed to talk to Zuko for a minute, is he here?"

"He's looking around the place to make sure we haven't left anything behind," Iroh reassured her. "We'll be moving into an apartment above the new shop today, so you can come visit us there anytime you like. Just look for The Jasmine Dragon."

"I'd like that," she answered honestly. "And really, congratulations on the shop, you deserve it."

Iroh blinked for a moment, clearly stunned, before giving her a warm smile. "Thank you." She hugged him briefly, mindful of the box he was holding, before hurrying up the rest of the stairs to knock on the half-open door.

"Hey, are you guys done packing?" she called, but no answer came. She pushed the door open, frowning as she glanced around the empty single-room apartment. "Zuko?" she called again, but there was only silence in response, not even a shuffle to indicate another presence in the apartment. She bit her lip before returning down the staircase, finding Iroh just at the foot of the steps.

"You're back awfully quickly," he pointed out with a wry chuckle. "I'd hoped you'd spend a little more time speaking with my nephew."

"Zuko's not in the apartment," she answered and his smile slid off his face, his expression turning grim as he set the box at his feet.

"I see." He forced a small smile, placing his hand on Rinzen's shoulder. "I'm sure he'll be along soon, or he might have gone ahead to catch the train to the upper ring. We can go to the new apartment together, if you'd like."

"I can't," she said apologetically. "We've got a lead on Appa, we think he's underneath Lake Laogai. I have to meet the others there."

Something in Iroh's expression cleared as he nodded, picking up the box again. "It's all right. Come by when you can and let me know if you find your bison. Be safe."

"I will." Rinzen gave him a quick hug again before hurrying out the door and down the path to the lake.

" _You_ took your time," Toph deadpanned as she rounded the corner, finding them all standing on an outcropping of land culminating in a large round metal manhole cover.

"Sorry, I just-" Rinzen began to explain apologetically, scrambling to think of some way to explain why she had gone to see Lee, but Toph just waved her hand dismissively.

"Forget it. You're here, so we can go now." She stomped on the ground to force a rock to jut out of the ground and prop up the manhole cover, revealing a ladder descending into a dark tunnel. Grimacing at the sight of the inky blackness below, Aang and Sokka slid down first, Katara following and then Jet, Smellerbee, and Longshot descending after her. Rinzen dropped down with a burst of air at her feet to cushion her landing as Toph climbed down shakily, gripping the metal rungs of the ladder like a lifeline.

"I'll catch you if you fall," Rinzen offered, causing Toph to glare down at her.

"I'll be _fine_ , taller Twinkletoes, don't you dare." She slipped on the last rung and toppled backwards with a yelp, causing Rinzen to quickly catch her shoulders to steady her. Toph exhaled a little shakily as she straightened again, her toes digging into the dirt floor instinctively for purchase. "Okay. Maybe I should stick closer to you guys just in case," she agreed, shuffling a little closer to Rinzen's side nervously.

"It's starting to come back to me," Jet said as he led the way down the dark, damp tunnel and the others slowly followed. "This is the way they took me."

As they proceeded, the walls of the tunnel steadily became dotted with more and more dim green lanterns, casting a sickly glow over them. Shadows seemed to dance with each step they took, making Rinzen feel just a little more unnerved. Water dripped around them and echoed along the expanse of the tunnel and she nearly shrieked as a cold drop fell down the back of her neck. The next moment, Katara let out a startled noise instead as a drop of water hit the back of her neck as well.

"Shh!" Sokka hissed in response, pointing at a set of doors ahead. One door was cracked ajar and as they passed it, each of them peered inside before grimacing and carrying on. Curious, Rinzen peeked into the room only to find a Dai Li agent standing at the front of the room. Several women dressed in identical Earth Kingdom robes stood in rows in front of him.

"I am Joo Dee. Welcome to Ba Sing Se," the agent said calmly.

"I am Joo Dee. Welcome to Ba Sing Se," the women parroted in eerie unison, their voices echoing against the damp tunnel walls discordantly.

"We are so lucky to have our walls to create order," the Dai Li agent added.

"We are so lucky to have our walls to create order," the Joo Dees repeated, their intonations identical, and Rinzen felt goosebumps rising on her skin as she hurried past the room to catch up to the rest of the group. She found herself inching a little closer to Aang as he glanced back at her questioningly, his expression tense and worried.

"You really think Appa's here?" she pointed out quietly. "He _hates_ tunnels."

"I know." He bit his lip hard before glancing back down the long corridor of doors in front of them, his jaw clenching a little as his fingers tightened on his staff. "Which is exactly why I think he's here. I can feel it, how scared he is."

"Well, I'll trust your Avatar instincts," she offered as she nudged her shoulder lightly against his, trying to cheer him up, and it seemed to work as he cracked a tiny smile.

"Any of these cells are big enough to hold Appa," Jet said, nodding to the hallway in front of them, and Aang glanced between the doors and then decisively headed for one of them.

"My instincts are giving me a good feeling about this one." He tried the door, which was blessedly unlocked, before throwing it open to reveal a large empty chamber.

"A good feeling, huh?" Sokka deadpanned as they followed Aang inside, looking around for any sign that Appa had been there. Rinzen heard a quiet shuffling noise and instinctively looked up toward the source only to find several Dai Li agents suspended over them on small hanging platforms. Even as she opened her mouth to warn the others, the door slid shut behind them and she spun around to see Long Feng standing with a group of agents behind him, his arms folded behind his back.

"You have made yourselves enemies of the state," he said coldly and Rinzen felt her grip on her staff tighten reflexively. Around her, she could practically feel the rest of the group tensing into defensive stances as she did the same. "Take them into custody," Long Feng ordered the agents around him, who immediately closed in around the group.

Instinctively, Rinzen found herself spinning out her staff, sending a blast of air at the agents closest to her. A strong breeze at her back made her look over her shoulder to see that Aang had done the same behind her so that all of the agents around them had been blown away. Toph lashed out next, sending out a large boulder from the ground at the nearest group of Dai Li agents that descended from the ceiling to knock them away and leaving a large crater in the ground. Jet yanked out the hooked swords from their sheath on his back, charging at an agent to take him on along with Smellerbee as Sokka drew out his boomerang to throw it at one of the agents sliding down from the ceiling.

"Get down, Rin!" Katara called and Rinzen ducked just in time for Katara to whip out a stream of water from the waterskin at her hip, knocking down an agent who had been descending practically over Rinzen's head. As she straightened again, she gave Katara a thumbs-up before blasting another Dai Li agent away from Aang's back as he focused on covering Longshot, the archer carefully firing arrow after arrow with precision.

The scraping of stone caught Rinzen's attention just as Aang shouted, "Long Feng is escaping!" He and Jet ran after Long Feng as the older man slipped through the stone door that had opened behind him. It shut just before Aang and Jet could reach there and before Rinzen knew it, Aang threw his fist out to destroy the door entirely, leaping through the rubble and vanishing out of sight as Jet followed. She hurried after them, but her path was blocked by a Dai Li agent who dropped from the ceiling to land in front of her.

She raised an eyebrow at him, raising her staff threateningly. "Buddy, standing between me and my little brother is definitely not a good idea." The Dai Li agent didn't respond, but one of his gloves made of rock shot out at her, which she batted away easily with a sharp blast of air. She ducked to avoid the second glove he threw at her, but then both gloves circled around to grab her wrists, yanking them behind her back roughly as her staff clattered to the floor.

The tight grip on her wrists shattered abruptly and she looked around to find Sokka catching the boomerang he had thrown to break the rock gloves, which lay in pieces on the floor. She nodded to him gratefully as she snatched up her staff again and leapt over the Dai Li agent's head to clamber over the stone rubble after Aang and Jet just as Katara knocked out the agent with a well-timed water whip. The others joined Rinzen in running down the hall as they reached a large stone door. Toph slammed her fist into it to slide it open only to find Jet lying prone on the floor, Aang sitting by his side and looking distressed.

"What happened?" Rinzen asked as they hurried to the two, dropping to her knees beside Aang to place a hand against his shoulder.

"Long Feng attacked him," he explained, his voice cracking slightly. She ushered him to his feet and aside so that Katara could kneel beside Jet and draw out some water to try and heal him.

"This isn't good," the waterbender said quietly, glancing up at them worriedly.

"Just go," Jet insisted weakly, grimacing a little in pain before forcing a smile at Katara. "I'll be fine."

"We can't just leave you behind," Katara insisted, suddenly sounding devastated in a way Rinzen had never heard her sound before.

"There's no time," Longshot suddenly spoke, the first time he had ever said anything in front of them, lifting his head. "You have to go. We'll take care of him." Smellerbee settled on the ground beside Jet's head.

"I'll be okay," Jet repeated and Katara bit her lip hard, shutting her eyes tightly before getting to her feet. They turned for the door leading back out into the hallway, Rinzen feeling more and more like they should have stayed behind with Jet with each step away from him.

"He's lying," Toph whispered bleakly as they reached the door and, without giving anyone a chance to respond, she kicked open the stone door so that they could return to the hallway. Katara hesitated, turning back to glance at Jet, but Sokka placed a hand on her shoulder to guide her forward instead.

Rinzen took a deep breath, squeezing Aang's shoulder gently. "We should keep looking for Appa," she said quietly and he glanced back up at her before nodding, scrubbing a hand over his face quickly to compose himself.

"Yeah." He took a deep breath of his own before setting off down the hallway, tapping on each door lightly and then listening for the echo. Catching Rinzen's frown, he clarified, "Trying to figure out how big the room is based on the echo."

"Smart," she noted, impressed, and he managed a small smile back at her before stopping in his tracks when he tapped on one door and listened to its echo. He pushed open the door only to find the room empty with a tiny pile of hay in the corner and six large manacles abandoned on the floor.

"He was here," Rinzen realized as she stepped inside, relieved.

"But he's gone now," Aang confirmed, sounding dejected. "We're too late, they've moved him."

"No, they haven't," Sokka said as he nudged past Rinzen to kneel down beside one of the chains. "They'd've had keys to open these cuffs, right?" He pointed at a chain that seemed to have been sliced cleanly through. "But these are cut through, not unlocked. And from these scuff marks, I'd say they're from some kind of broadsword."

"Broadsword?" Rinzen echoed, recalling the kind of swords Zuko had had mounted on the wall of his quarters back on his old ship and feeling a sudden spark of hope that maybe, just maybe...

"Yeah, why?" Sokka looked up at her and she quickly forced herself back to reality.

"Nothing. Just wondering who'd have a broadsword in this place," she said quickly and he shrugged, getting to his feet and dusting his knees off.

"In any case, Appa can't have been taken far. The ground is still warm where he was laying here." He nodded to the large empty space between the chains. "We should hurry and try to catch up to him." He glanced at Toph. "Can you push us up to the surface?"

"Can do." Toph cracked her knuckles before stomping on the ground hard. Before Rinzen knew it, the earth under her feet was being jolted upwards rapidly and they sped up towards the ceiling. Toph punched upwards and icy lakewater cascaded toward them, but Katara and Aang quickly parted the water around them so that they could ascend unhindered. They burst through the surface of the lake and hurried along the rocky path Toph created to the shore. A sudden rush of footsteps behind them made Rinzen glance over her shoulder to see several Dai Li agents climbing out of the hole they had made to chase after them.

"Do you think we can outrun them?" Sokka called up to Aang, who looked over his shoulder as well and grimaced.

"I don't think it's gonna matter." They skidded to a halt when they noticed more agents ahead of them, Long Feng standing in front of them with his arms crossed behind his back again. The agents stamped on the ground to raise a large wall of earth in front of them and Rinzen turned just to see another wall rise behind them, boxing them in.

"So what's the plan to get out of this one?" she asked, glancing at Aang, who looked just as uncertain as she did. Suddenly, a warm weight landed on her shoulder and she turned to see Momo perched there, chattering rapidly.

"What is it, buddy?" Aang prompted and Momo took off just as quickly, soaring past Long Feng and up into the sky. Rinzen squinted up at the sun only to see a large shape soaring down towards them. Just as she registered what she was looking at, Aang shouted happily, "Appa!"

Appa smashed through the wall as he landed in front of them, his teeth bared as he growled and approached Long Feng angrily. Emboldened by his appearance, Aang and Toph slammed their fists into the other wall to knock the Dai Li agents standing on it into the water.

"I can handle you myself," Long Feng snarled at Appa, kicking out, but Appa caught his leg with his teeth, easily tossing him across the water. Grimacing, Appa spit out one of Long Feng's shoes before turning to face the group warily. Before Rinzen could stop herself, her feet were carrying her to the bison at a run and she pushed herself up with a burst of air to cling to Appa's soft fur, burying her face into it as tears stung her eyes.

"You're really here," she whispered. A soft breeze beside her made her look up to see Aang clutching Appa just as tightly as she was, the others crowded around Appa as well.

"We missed you, buddy," Aang murmured, his voice breaking as tears streamed down his face, and Appa closed his eyes with a soft rumble of contentment, clearly the first time he had felt so happy in a long time. Rinzen wanted to hold onto Appa's fur forever, but found herself reluctantly sliding down to the ground again, rubbing his nose gently.

"But how'd you get free?" she asked, but Appa was soaking in the affection too much to even acknowledge her question, not that she expected an answer.

"Does it matter?" Aang slid down as well, wiping his eyes with a broad smile. "He's here. That's enough for me."

"Yeah. Me, too." Still, the suspicion of who had freed Appa still lingered at the back of Rinzen's mind as she continued to stroke the sky bison's soft fur, reassuring herself that he was really safe after so many weeks apart.

* * *

 **Yeah, I have no one to blame but myself and my writer's block after so much time off. Writing fight scenes are the bane of my existence, and finals were a pain and then the holidays happened and then some job interviews for after my graduation this May, but I finally managed to finish this chapter! Happy New Year and happy belated holidays!**

 **I hope you enjoy this chapter and I'll aim to get another one out before my final semester starts on the 16th!**


	5. Fever Pitch

**Chapter 5: Fever Pitch**

* * *

"I missed you more than you'll ever know," Aang crooned as he held onto Appa's muzzle tightly, the bison nuzzling and licking him repeatedly.

They had flown Appa to a remote islet on the far side of Lake Laogai to avoid any Dai Li agents searching for them so that they could enjoy being reunited again in peace. Even after nearly half an hour of getting cuddles and pets from everyone, the sky bison was so touch-starved that he whined and leaned after them whenever they began to pull away. Katara, Sokka, and Toph were settled on the ground between his large paws, rubbing his nose and scratching under his chin, while Rinzen sat on top of his large head, stroking one of his fuzzy ears and feeling it flick instinctively toward her hand whenever she drew it back. Momo curled up against one of Appa's horns, nuzzling into his fur and chittering quietly with satisfaction.

Rinzen couldn't help but keep thinking about the chains that had been cut through with what Sokka had said had been a broadsword. If her guess was correct, and Zuko really had somehow found Appa and freed him, she owed him a huge apology for all of the times she had doubted that he had really changed. It was times like these when she really wished she could read Appa's mind just to find out what had happened.

Appa groaned in complaint when her hand stilled on his ear and she couldn't help a soft chuckle, scratching behind his ear again gently.

"Good boy," she murmured soothingly and he rumbled as he closed his eyes again contentedly.

"I think we've got a good chance at talking to the Earth King now," Sokka said suddenly from where he was settled against Appa's front leg as Rinzen peered down at him.

"Well, I vote for getting out of Ba Sing Se as soon as possible before the Dai Li catch up to us," she answered dryly, although she wanted to at least see Zuko and say goodbye to him before they left. "They've already got control of the Earth King, it's not like he'll listen to us."

"I'm with taller Twinkletoes. The sooner we get out of this city, the better," Toph agreed, but Aang looked a little more hesitant.

"I don't know, Rin," he said slowly, continuing to stroke Appa's nose absently. "Sokka's got a point. We've got Appa back, so there's nothing really stopping us from at least _trying_ to talk to the Earth King." He glanced at Katara, who looked just as torn as she chewed her lip in thought. "What do you think, Katara?"

"Well," Katara hedged, still biting her lip anxiously. "I don't know. On one hand, Rin and Toph have a point. Long Feng and the Dai Li are too powerful, they've got too much control over the city for us to be able to get through to the Earth King."

"But it's the whole reason we came here in the first place," Sokka argued, getting to his feet. "We have to try."

"I guess if the Earth King knew the truth, things could change," Katara conceded and both Aang and Sokka perked up, grinning widely.

"I don't trust this new positive Sokka," Toph decided and Rinzen snorted with amusement.

"You and me both," she deadpanned. Toph held up a hand expectantly and Rinzen obediently leaned down to high-five it.

Aang suddenly hurried to the edge of the islet, his eyebrows furrowing in concern. "Uh-oh." Rinzen sat up on Appa's head, squinting a little to see three ships sailing across the lake.

"That must be the Dai Li looking for us," Sokka realized, grimacing as he turned to Katara. "Well?"

Katara paused for a moment before nodding decisively. "Let's fly." They climbed onto Appa's back as Aang pushed himself up with a burst of air to settle beside Rinzen.

"Yip-yip!" he shouted and within moments, they were airborne.

Rinzen was used to flying on a sky bison without a saddle, so she looped an arm around Appa's horn instinctively to steady herself as the sky bison climbed steadily higher into the air, but she could hear the other three shrieking and grabbing onto his fur to stay on his back. Appa groaned a little, craning his head worriedly to try and peer back at them, and Rinzen patted his head soothingly.

"We're okay, big guy," she crooned. "Everyone's just a little nervous without your saddle." She turned to Aang, who looked just as worried as she felt. There was a lot of work to be done when it came to making Appa feel comfortable again. "We should get a new saddle, spirits know where the old one went." He nodded, stroking Appa's head reassuringly as well before guiding him toward the city again.

As they flew over the upper ring, approaching the large palace, Rinzen couldn't help but feel that nagging sensation again that she should see Zuko and confront him about Appa, and she didn't know if they would even have the time to talk afterwards if the Earth King chose to kick her and the rest of the group out.

"Don't freak out, but I need to take care of something," she called over the rushing wind and Sokka picked up his head from where it was buried in Appa's fur.

"Are you crazy?! What could be more important right now than seeing the Earth King?!" he shouted back.

"He's got a point," Aang reasoned, raising an eyebrow skeptically. "Are you sure this can't wait?"

"It's important," Rinzen insisted. "Just trust me, okay? You can send Momo to find me if you need me, he always knows where I am. I won't be far from the palace, but I need to do this."

Aang bit his lip, but nodded reluctantly. "Okay. Just be safe."

"I will. Thank you." She drew him into a quick one-armed hug and patted Appa's head gently before snapping open her glider and leaping off.

The rush of wind around her felt incredible as she guided an air current along her glider to help her fly towards the street leading away from the palace. Landing on the street, she snapped the glider closed, surprised to see that she had conveniently landed just a few doors away from The Jasmine Dragon. The shop itself was still closed with a large sign over the door that read, "Opening Soon!" in cheery lettering. She circled around to the stone steps leading to the apartment above the shop, climbing them before knocking on the door and hoping Iroh and Zuko were home.

Iroh opened the door, looking frazzled. "Rinzen!" He didn't sound as happy to see her as he normally did and she found herself frowning worriedly.

"Is this a bad time? I didn't know if I'd get to come by later, so I just-"

"No, no, it's not, I just..." He glanced over his shoulder anxiously into the apartment. "Zuko isn't well," he confessed.

"Why? What's wrong with him?" Rinzen resisted the urge to peer over his shoulder as well.

"He's...well, come inside, in any case." Iroh ushered her inside and she leaned her staff on the wall. "He's sleeping at the moment, but he's through here." She followed Iroh through a doorway into a bedroom, where Zuko lay on a sleeping mat, covered in sweat and tossing and turning fitfully in his sleep.

"What happened?" she prompted, lingering in the doorway as Iroh took a seat beside Zuko, grabbing a cloth to dip it in cool water from a bucket beside him and then draping it over Zuko's forehead.

"Zuko made a very difficult choice today, and it has put his body and spirit at odds, hence his high fever," he explained as he worked and Rinzen watched Zuko shiver instinctively when the cloth was placed over his forehead. Iroh hesitated before admitting, "He found your bison and freed him."

Relief flooded through her like an icy bucket had been upended over her head. "I suspected that he did." She bit her lip before moving into the room, taking a seat on Zuko's other side carefully. "Sokka recognized that the chains had been cut by a broadsword and I'd hoped it was Zuko, but I wasn't sure."

"He didn't intend to free Appa at first," Iroh clarified, frowning slightly. "He originally planned to take him hostage until you and your brother came."

"And then what?" Rinzen pointed out wryly. "No offense, but I'm pretty sure Appa could take him out in a split second. Not sure he thought that through."

Iroh cracked a wry smile. "That's what I told him." He carefully continued patting Zuko's forehead with the damp cloth. "But he made the choice to let Appa go all by himself." He looked back up at her and his expression was almost pleading with her to believe him. "He _wants_ to change, Rinzen. I know he does."

Rinzen glanced down at Zuko, his expression tense as he shifted feverishly, and hesitated before reaching out to slip her hand into his. Even his palm was sweaty and hot, but she clutched onto his fingers tightly anyway. "I wanted to believe that he did for the longest time," she admitted quietly. "I've always known _you_ wanted to change, but ever since I found out you were both here in Ba Sing Se, I hoped that he did, too." When she looked up again, Iroh was still watching her anxiously. "This is the first time I really believe it," she reassured him and he relaxed, a soft and warm smile spreading across his face as he reached over to squeeze her shoulder.

"That means the world to me." Zuko groaned quietly in his sleep, turning away from the cold cloth on his forehead, and Iroh grimaced as he sat back a little, dropping the cloth back into the bucket. "I need to go down to the shop and get some herbs to make a tea that might curb his fever." He glanced up at Rinzen. "But if you have to return to your brother-"

"No," she reassured him quickly, making up her mind as she laced her fingers with Zuko's instinctively. "He'll send Momo for me if he needs me. I can stay with Zuko while you go to the shop."

Iroh gave her a grateful smile. "Thank you, I really owe you." He got to his feet. "I won't be long." He hurried out of the room and Rinzen heard the apartment door close behind him. Exhaling quietly, she sat back against the wall, watching Zuko toss and turn restlessly in his sleep. He was shirtless under the blanket that covered him up to his chest and each time he shifted, it slipped further off him. Rinzen carefully tugged the blanket back up, tucking it around his shoulders as he tried to push her hands away in his half-conscious state.

"Stop that," she scolded him mildly. "You need to sweat it out."

The sound of her voice seemed to finally sink in as he stirred slowly. "Rin?" he rasped, cracking his eyes open to peer at her hazily. "What're you doing here?" His voice broke on the last word as he turned his head away from her to cough hard.

"Just babysitting while your uncle ran out to grab some stuff," she explained, reaching over him to grab the ladle sticking out from the bucket of water. "You'll want to stay hydrated." Reluctantly, he took the ladle from her, sitting up just enough to swallow down the water inside. The blanket slipped down from his shoulders to pool in his lap and she dropped her gaze away from him instinctively, relieved that he was at least wearing pants.

"Did you get Appa back?" he asked as he dropped the ladle back into the bucket unceremoniously. She managed a small smile as she glanced up again to find him watching her warily, albeit looking somewhat dazed with how high his fever was.

"Yeah, we did." She hesitated before shuffling closer to wrap her arms around his torso gingerly. He was practically scalding to the touch, but she felt him slip his arms shakily around her in return. "Thank you. It means everything to me that you let him go."

"Mm-hmm." He ducked his head against hers as she felt his arms go lax around her, his energy clearly spent, and she nudged him back down onto the sleeping mat.

"Get some more rest. I'm not going anywhere. Hopefully." He cracked a tiny smile before closing his eyes, his breathing evening out again as she drew the blanket back up to cover his shoulders. She grabbed the cloth Iroh had discarded into the bucket to wring it out and drape it back over Zuko's forehead to try and bring down his fever, wincing in sympathy as he shivered and tried to turn his head away from the cold, damp sensation.

A soft chittering at the window caught her attention as she got to her feet, relieved to see Momo perched on the windowsill and grumpily scratching at a piece of parchment tied to his leg. If they had had time to write a note to her, then things clearly couldn't be as bad as the Earth King kicking them out of Ba Sing Se. Gently, she untied the parchment and opened it, allowing Momo to clamber onto her shoulder as she read the note scribbled in Aang's messy handwriting.

 _Things are all good with the Earth King. Long Feng's been arrested. The Dai Li's been keeping letters and documents from us that we just found. Come by the palace when you can, no rush. Hope everything's okay._

Rinzen glanced around for a quill, glad to find one resting beside an inkwell on a table nearby and turning the note over to write a response back.

 _That's great. I'm with Lee right now and taking care of some things, but I'll try to be there soon._

Momo glowered sullenly at her as she reached up for his leg, clearly disgruntled at being used like a messenger hawk.

"Hey, you signed up to be in our group, so you need to earn your keep," she scolded him quietly as she tied the note to his leg again and scooped him off her shoulder to walk him to the window. He chirruped sadly at the reprimand as she set him gently down on the windowsill, his ears drooping, and she scratched under his chin. "I'll give you a peach later if you behave." He perked up at the promise of fruit before leaping off the windowsill to fly towards the palace and Rinzen couldn't help a chuckle as she returned to take a seat at Zuko's side again.

He opened his eyes slightly and reached for her hand to take it the moment she sat down and she marveled at how naturally their fingers laced together. His fingers were warm and rough against hers, although she suspected the heat came from the fever and not the natural fire smoldering just underneath his skin.

"Everything okay?" His voice was still hoarse and sounded like his throat was coated with sandpaper.

"Yeah, everything's fine." She reached up to brush her fingers through his hair and he leaned into the touch absently. "You should go back to sleep, your uncle will be home soon."

"Hmm," he answered noncommittally, clearly considering something before he pushed himself upright shakily, wavering slightly, and she caught his shoulder instinctively to steady him despite how hot it was to the touch.

"What're you doing? Lay down before you pass out or-" Before she knew it, he was reaching out to place his free hand on the back of her neck, tugging her in and pressing his lips against hers roughly. His nose bumped against hers and she vaguely noted that his eyes were closed before belatedly realizing that she should probably close her eyes as well. It felt odd to have someone's lips on her own, especially when they were dry and slightly chapped, but she found herself leaning in after him instinctively as he pulled away, feeling slightly breathless and dizzy.

"Sorry," he apologized as she opened her eyes to find a small, tentative smile tugging at his lips. She did her best to try not to think about how they had just been touching hers moments earlier. "But I've tried to kiss you and been interrupted about twice now. Didn't want to get interrupted a third time."

"You've...what?" She felt her cheeks redden with embarrassment at how dazed she sounded and he looked somewhat disappointed.

"You didn't notice? Not even at the train station?"

"I mean, Katara kind of pointed it out when I told her about what happened at the train station, but I thought she was kidding," she admitted and was surprised to see him biting back a smile again.

"Well, I mean, it _was_ kind of obvious."

"Shut up, I never said I was observant," she muttered, gently shoving his shoulder. "Lay down and get some sleep now."

He obediently lay back on the sleeping mat, his eyes still on her. "So as far as first kisses go...?" he prompted expectantly.

"Not like I have much to compare it to," she pointed out wryly. Before she could stop herself, she added impulsively, "Kiss me again when you're not running a fever and we'll see. You're just lucky that this isn't contagious."

She turned bright red at her own daring, but Zuko only huffed quietly with amusement as he closed his eyes, murmuring, "Sounds like a plan."

Rinzen hesitated before leaning down to press a soft kiss against his forehead and his lips curved up into another tiny smile as his breathing evened out again. Just as she sat back again, she heard the apartment door open as Iroh returned and felt secretly relieved that he hadn't come in just minutes earlier. She climbed to her feet and slipped out of the room to find him unpacking a large bag of herbs onto the kitchen counter.

"Anything I can help with?" she offered and he glanced over his shoulder before shaking his head with a small smile.

"No, that's all right, I can take care of brewing the tea from here. How is Zuko doing?"

"He's okay," she answered honestly. "Woke up a couple times and I got him to drink a little water, but he's back to sleeping now. Momo came earlier with a message from Aang that I should head to the Earth King's palace to take care of something."

"Do you need to go now, then?" Iroh frowned slightly. "I can take care of Zuko by myself if that's the case."

"Yeah, I do, but I'll try to come back as soon as I can," she confirmed.

He relaxed a little as he nodded and waved her toward the door. "Go on, we'll see you soon." Rinzen grabbed her staff from where she had left it by the doorway, waving over her shoulder in response as she headed out of the apartment and back to the street, where she took flight with a burst of air from her feet to launch her into the sky with her glider.

As she approached the palace doors and tilted her glider down to land on the top step, she noticed the conspicuous numbers of Earth Kingdom soldiers milling about the courtyard compared to the number of Dai Li agents who had been patrolling the area when they had last snuck into the Earth King's palace during his pet bear's birthday party. She reached for the giant door handle to push it open.

"Stop right there!" A uniformed general that she recognized from the outer wall of Ba Sing Se stepped out from behind a stone pillar, blocking the doorway. "You can't just waltz into the Earth King's palace!"

Rinzen blinked at him. "General How, it's me, Rinzen. The Avatar's sister? Aang told me to come to the palace."

General How frowned back at her bemusedly before he glanced up at the arrow on her forehead and winced in embarrassment. "Right, sorry about that. I guess we're all a little on edge, since we just had a security breach-"

"With Long Feng, I know," she reassured him. "Can I go in or...?"

"Yes, of course." He opened the door for her and followed her inside before shutting the door behind them. "Your friends and the King are just down here." He led the way down the massive hallway and Rinzen glanced around as she followed him, marveling at the giant green and gold banners and decorations everywhere. They was almost too lavish and lurid for her to look at them for long. General How knocked on a door before pushing it open to reveal a dim study with a crackling fireplace containing a large green fire.

Aang, Katara, Sokka, and Toph were gathered around a large wooden table, a box full of scrolls in front of them and a thin man with tiny spectacles and long green and gold flowing robes beside them. Rinzen presumed he was the Earth King, but hadn't expected him to be as thin and fragile-looking as he was. Aang looked up first before smiling broadly at the sight of Rinzen.

"Hey, Rin, good thing you're here. Is everything okay with-?"

"Ooh, _Lee_ ," Toph and Sokka chorused with wide grins even before Aang could finish his question, clearly having rehearsed it ahead of time, and Rinzen rolled her eyes.

"Everything's okay for now, he's just running a really high fever, so I had to stay with him while his uncle ran out to grab some medicinal herbs," she explained as she came into the study. Remembering her manners belatedly, she bowed quickly to the Earth King. "Your Majesty."

He gave her a warm smile. "Hello. You must be Avatar Aang's sister, Rinzen. He's spoken very highly of you. My name is Kuei."

Rinzen felt a little glow of warmth in her chest toward her little brother as she sat down in an empty chair beside Aang, squeezing his shoulder lightly. "I appreciate that," she addressed both her brother and King Kuei. "I'm really glad things worked out. Especially after we've wanted to speak with you for so long."

"Your Majesty, not to interrupt, but we need to make further arrangements regarding Long Feng and the Dai Li," General How prompted from the doorway and King Kuei frowned before getting to his feet.

"I understand." He glanced at the group. "I'm afraid I have to take care of this, will you all be all right?"

"We'll be fine, thanks," Aang answered reassuringly and King Kuei smiled, nodding back to him before following General How out. "Look at this. It was attached to Appa's horn when the Dai Li found him," Aang added to Rinzen, passing a small scroll over, and she took the note to read it. From what she could understand, there was a man named Guru Pathik who lived in the empty Eastern Air Temple and claimed he could teach Aang to control the Avatar state completely.

"You really think this Guru Pathik can do that? Teach you to control the Avatar state?" she asked curiously as she passed the note back to Aang.

"It's worth checking out," he answered with a small shrug. "If I can get control of the Avatar state, it's a pretty big advantage for us, especially before the invasion on the day of black sun."

"So we're going ahead with it?" Rinzen instinctively glanced at Sokka, since it had been his plan originally. "The solar eclipse invasion?"

He nodded. "We're going to need to plan a full-scale invasion now that we've got the Earth King's support." He glanced down at the scroll he was holding then, his eyebrows furrowing. "But Katara and I found this report that says there's a Water Tribe fleet at the mouth of Chameleon Bay led by our dad."

"And there's a letter from my mom that she's in the city and wants to see me," Toph added, sounding more excited than Rinzen had ever heard her. Then again, Rinzen knew how much Toph had wanted her parents' approval since before she had joined their group.

"I hate to say it, but maybe we should consider splitting up," Katara spoke up at last, biting her lip worriedly.

"Split up?" Aang sounded stricken. "But we just got the family back together!"

"Just for a little while," Katara reassured him quickly. "Sokka and I can go see our dad while Toph sees her mom, and you and Rinzen can go to the Eastern Air Temple to meet Guru Pathik."

"Wait. Someone has to stay back to plan for the invasion with the Earth King," Sokka realized suddenly and exhaled quietly in resignation, passing the scroll containing the report of their father's whereabouts to Katara. "I guess that'll be me."

Katara paused before pushing the scroll back into Sokka's hands. "No, Sokka. You should go to Chameleon Bay and see Dad. I know how much that means to you. I'll stay behind with the Earth King."

Sokka's eyes were suddenly very bright as he reached out to hug Katara tightly. "You are the best sister _ever_ ," he said fervently, pressing his face into her hair as she patted his back with a fond chuckle.

"Easy there, big brother."

"So it's settled then, we can all plan to head out tomorrow morning?" Rinzen suggested, glancing out the window to find the sun starting to sink past the horizon. So much had happened in one day that it almost didn't feel real that they had gotten Appa back and that they had gotten the Earth King's support for the solar eclipse invasion. "Aang and I can take Sokka to Chameleon Bay on Appa and then go to the Eastern Air Temple from there."

"That sounds good," Aang agreed, glancing back up at Rinzen even though he still looked a little uneasy at the thought of them splitting up. "Maybe you should go see Lee before we go. Make sure he's doing okay."

"I was actually thinking I'd go now," she admitted. "See if his uncle needs any help, maybe stay overnight with them. I'll be back in the morning so we can go."

"Ooh, Lee," Sokka muttered under his breath absently as he studied the report in his hands, more out of habit than actually teasing her, but Katara still elbowed him sharply, earning a yelp in response.

"Leave her alone, if she wants to spend time with someone other than us, she can."

"Thank you," Rinzen told her gratefully as she got to her feet. "I'll see you guys in the morning." They all bade her goodbye and she left the study in much higher spirits than she thought she would be going in.

As she made her way out to the courtyard, a loud groan caught her attention and she found Appa nestled in a stable on the far side of the courtyard, his large brown eyes focused on her. With a soft chuckle, she crossed the courtyard to rub the sky bison's nose gently.

"Hey, buddy," she murmured fondly. "We're going to take a trip to the Eastern Air Temple tomorrow. You remember that place, right? It's where you were born." She scratched under his large chin and he closed his eyes, soaking in the affection. "It'll be good to fly long-distance again, I bet you've missed it. I know I have." Appa licked at her fingers with a contented rumble and she pressed a kiss against the arrow on his forehead. "It's good to have you back, big guy." Appa nosed at her gently in response and she reluctantly stepped back as he whined a little, leaning after her. "I know, I'm sorry, but I've gotta go see Zuko now." He perked up at the mention of Zuko's name and she couldn't help a tiny smile. "Yeah, you like him now that he freed you, huh? I'll be back in the morning, I promise." She patted Appa's nose one last time before heading out of the palace gates and down the narrow street to The Jasmine Dragon.

She climbed the stone steps to Zuko and Iroh's apartment, knocking before cracking open the door to peek inside. "It's just me, can I come in?" she called.

"Yes, come on in," Iroh called back from the kitchen and she stepped inside, leaning her staff back against the wall before making her way to the kitchen to join him. A heavy medicinal scent laced the air and she wrinkled her nose instinctively.

"I'm guessing that's the tea?"

"Unfortunately, yes. Highly effective, but horribly abusive to the nose. No self-respecting tea should smell like this," Iroh deadpanned as he poured out the murky-looking tea from the kettle into a cup that he held out to her. "Take this to Zuko and make him drink all of it, please? He needs at least a few cups through the night to bring his fever down. I've already given him one, so he should be used to the taste by now. Not that it'll keep him from complaining about it." He rolled his eyes fondly, making Rinzen laugh a little.

"I'll get him to drink it." She slipped into the bedroom with the cup of tea to find Zuko asleep and fidgeting restlessly, his blanket having been kicked off and balled up into a corner of the room. "Hey," she murmured quietly as she took a seat by his side, nudging his shoulder to wake him. He started awake almost instantly at her touch, jerking upright and startling her into almost dropping the teacup. "Take it easy, it's just me," she reassured him quickly and he exhaled a little shakily as he registered who was in front of him, pushing himself upright properly to lean heavily against the wall.

"Sorry," he muttered, his voice still hoarse as he scrubbed a hand over his face and she held out the cup carefully.

"Your uncle told me to give you another cup of tea."

He wrinkled his nose. "Another one?" He took the cup obediently from her despite his reluctance and took a sip, shuddering slightly at the taste and stifling a cough into his free elbow.

"You're going to have to get a few more down through the night, so you'd better get used to it now," she warned him and he groaned a little in complaint even as he downed the rest of the cup in one gulp and set it aside. "Is it at least working?" She reached up to touch his forehead, frowning at how hot and dry his skin still felt.

"Don't feel any different," he answered dully as he shifted to lay back down, his eyes already falling shut. She found herself instinctively brushing his hair back from his forehead and he tilted his head into the touch, mumbling, "Where'd you go? Woke up earlier and you were gone."

"I had to go to the Earth King's palace to meet the others." She bit her lip, debating whether to tell him now, before admitting, "Aang and I are going to the Eastern Air Temple in the morning."

"You're leaving the city?" Zuko opened his eyes to focus on her, looking somewhat alert for once despite his high fever. "Are you coming back?"

Something about the vulnerability in his question made her nod quickly. "Of course I am. As soon as I can. There's just something we need to do at the temple, but it shouldn't take more than a few days." He relaxed a little at that, nodding slightly as he closed his eyes again, and she leaned down to press a kiss against his forehead lightly. "You're not getting rid of me that easily."

He huffed a breathless chuckle that turned quickly into a cough as he turned his head away from her instinctively. "Wasn't planning to." The unfamiliar note of fondness in his voice, rough with exhaustion and sickness as it was, made something in her heart swell as she pressed another kiss to his flushed cheek.

"Go to sleep. I'll be here until morning if you need me." He hummed quietly in response as he dozed off slowly and she got to her feet to collect the cup once he was asleep, returning to the kitchen and leaving the bedroom door slightly ajar so that she or Iroh could listen for any sign that Zuko needed them. "He surprisingly didn't complain as much as I thought he would," she said as she placed the cup in the sink and Iroh shrugged mildly.

"He _does_ behave better when you're around. Why do you think I sent you to give him the tea instead of giving it to him myself?" He gave her a cheeky grin and she rolled her eyes as he poured out a cup of steaming tea that smelled more like citrus than the medicinal kind he had brewed earlier, passing it to her. She took a sip and found that it was a flavor she had never tasted before.

"I don't think I've tried this one before," she noted, frowning curiously at the amber-colored tea. "What kind is it?"

"A new one that I've been considering for the grand opening of the shop tomorrow," Iroh informed her. "Orange. What do you think?"

She debated the question as she took another sip slowly, savoring the taste. "It's really nice," she told him honestly and he looked extremely pleased as he picked up a quill and a piece of parchment.

"Orange tea, success," he murmured to himself as he scribbled it down. "Maybe I can add a lavender kind to the menu as well."

"I think that's a great idea, yeah," Rinzen agreed as she took another sip of the delicious orange tea. It seemed to tingle on her tastebuds like a real orange would, but instead left a pleasant, mild aftertaste where the orange would have turned tangy and sour.

Iroh glanced at the doorway to the bedroom, his expression turning worried again as he set the parchment back on the counter. "I should stay up with him tonight to keep an eye on that fever," he noted quietly.

"We can take turns," Rinzen offered, already planning to stay up so that Iroh didn't have to stay awake all night on the day his shop was opening. "I can take first watch." Hopefully, she could just stay up with Zuko the entire night so that Iroh wouldn't have to.

Iroh bit his lip before nodding. "As long as you're all right with that. I know I can't ask you to-"

"It's not asking if I'm offering," she pointed out wryly. "It's okay, really. I'll sit with him."

"If you're sure. Take the kettle of medicinal tea with you and pour him a cup once every two hours," Iroh instructed, nodding to the second kettle on the other end of the counter. "And wake me after midnight."

"Will do." Rinzen had no plans to wake him after midnight, but made sure not to mention it as she picked up the kettle and a teacup before taking them into the bedroom to sit by Zuko's side. He was fully asleep again, albeit shivering and shifting around restlessly as he kept murmuring quietly in his mostly-unconscious state, but she couldn't quite hear what he was saying.

She settled in for a long night next to him, not looking forward to having to leave Ba Sing Se for the first time since she had arrived in the city.

* * *

 **I DID IT. I managed to write it out just a little less than a week before my semester starts!**

 **Hopefully, I can keep going since it's from this point where I really know where I want to take the story, but schoolwork is probably going to get in the way. Apologies in advance!** **I hope you enjoy this chapter in the meantime!**


	6. The Eastern Air Temple

**Chapter 6: The Eastern Air Temple**

* * *

Rinzen couldn't remember having fallen asleep, but she woke early the next morning, grimacing at the crick in her neck when she shifted a little against the wall she had been sitting against. The sky outside was still dark, but a few streaks of dull blue and purple were beginning to color the horizon. She scrubbed a hand over her face to make herself a little more alert as she stretched slightly, wondering what had awoken her.

She got her answer only moments later as Zuko shuffled restlessly beside her, covered in a sheen of sweat again as he tossed and turned in his sleep. She reached for the washcloth to try and bring down his fever again, but even as she stretched her hand over him, he jerked awake and upright suddenly, causing her to yelp in surprise and topple sideways, wincing as her hip made painful contact with the hard wooden floor.

"Ow," she muttered belatedly as she pushed herself up again on her elbow, rubbing her hip to stave off the inevitable bruise.

"Rin?" Zuko sounded dazed and surprised to see her still there as she blinked back at him, bewildered.

"Yeah, who else would I be?" He just stared at her for several moments, as if hardly seeing her, before his hand came up as if of its own accord to touch the edge of his scar gingerly. Slowly, he exhaled - whether with relief or disappointment, she couldn't tell - and scrubbed his hand over his face. "Are you okay?" she offered after a moment, inching a little closer to brush her fingers against his forehead. It was still warm, but thankfully cooler than earlier, and she let herself card her fingers through his hair. He leaned into her touch wordlessly, the tension in his shoulders easing almost instantly.

"Yeah. I'm okay," he spoke after another moment, his voice rough and exhausted as he rubbed his eyes again. "Just a weird dream."

"Yeah, fevers will do that," she reasoned, letting her hand drop to cover his and lacing their fingers together. "Think you wanna try getting some more sleep?" He nodded, shifting to lay down again as he closed his eyes. She brushed her free hand through his hair absently again, smoothing down the messy strands before laying down beside him tentatively and nestling her head against his warm shoulder. She heard his breathing hitch slightly above her and stole a peek up at him to find him staring back down at her, his expression slightly startled. "Is this okay?" she prompted, instinctively shuffling back and mentally kicking herself, but his arm slid around her waist quickly and pulled her back in.

"It's fine." She reluctantly settled back down against his side, placing her head against his shoulder. It didn't take long for drowsiness to kick back in and she found herself fast asleep before she knew it.

When she blinked awake again, the room was much brighter, the sun fully risen and hovering just over the horizon, so she knew she hadn't been asleep for more than a couple of hours. Zuko had clearly fallen back asleep as well, his arms heavy around her and pinning her against his side. She took a few moments to just soak in his warmth; it was the first time she had ever been held like this before, and she almost decided not to get up at all.

Finally, she gave in to the fact that she needed to leave for the Eastern Air Temple, leaning up reluctantly to brush a soft kiss against Zuko's jaw. He stirred slightly, his eyes focusing on her before a soft smile spread across his face, much to her surprise.

"I have to get going," she explained apologetically, feeling a little guilty for waking him, and he nodded, loosening his hold on her almost grudgingly.

"You'll come back, though?" His voice was rough with sleep and she found herself smiling at how peaceful he looked, even though it still seemed surreal.

"Of course I will, as soon as I can. I'll only be gone a week, at most." She leaned back in to steal a tender kiss to his lips and he tightened his hold on her again as he kissed her back, his lips curving into a smile against hers.

"I'll see you when you get back, then," he agreed. She nodded as she pulled back and climbed to her feet, slipping out of the bedroom as silently as she could to avoid waking Iroh, who was fast asleep on the couch. She found a spare piece of parchment and a quill on the desk by the doorway, scribbling a quick note to Iroh explaining where she had gone and that Zuko's fever seemed to be broken before leaving it on the counter and grabbing her glider on the way out of the apartment.

* * *

"How's Lee?" Aang asked as Rinzen placed her pack in Appa's new saddle beside the two packs already belonging to Aang and Sokka. Momo fluttered onto her shoulder, chittering happily, and she rubbed his large ears in response.

"He's good," she answered Aang honestly, focusing on tying the pack down so that she wouldn't have to meet his eyes. Whenever she did these days, it always felt like he was seeing right through her. She wasn't used to keeping secrets from him. "His fever broke this morning, so I feel a little better about leaving for a little while." When she couldn't pretend to fiddle with the pack anymore, she looked up to find Aang still smiling, but clearly pensive at the same time, his eyebrows furrowed slightly as he considered her. "What?" she demanded defensively.

"Nothing," he said hurriedly before hesitating and then admitting, "You just seem happy."

The sincerity in his voice made her feel guilty for snapping even as she managed a small smile back at him. "I _am_ happy," she reassured him, but was relieved for the distraction when Katara approached, leaving Aang unable to question Rinzen further even though he clearly wanted to.

"You ready to go, big guy?" Katara asked, rubbing Appa's flank gently as he grumbled a little and shuffled all six feet, clearly eager to start flying. Noticing the sudden anxious look on Aang's face, Rinzen pushed herself up with a small boost of air into Appa's saddle to give him a moment of privacy with Katara and busied herself with securing their packs again, even though the knots were so tight by that point that they couldn't even be undone anymore without taking a knife to them.

"Katara, I need to tell you something," Aang began tentatively and Rinzen did her best not to listen, but couldn't help but overhear the conversation anyway. "I've been wanting to say it for a long time."

"What is it, Aang?" Katara prompted curiously.

"Katara, I-"

"All right!" Sokka interrupted cheerfully as he and Toph arrived, throwing an arm around Aang's neck to pull him into a headlock. "Who's ready to get going on our men-only man trip?" Rinzen cleared her throat pointedly, poking her head out over the edge of the saddle just in time to see Aang's expression fall, the moment between him and Katara ruined. "Oh, yeah, and Rin's coming, too, I guess," Sokka added dismissively.

"Rude," Rinzen muttered, sliding off Appa's back to lean against his front leg comfortably. The bison turned his head to nuzzle her fondly, his large nose snuffling against her shoulder, and she patted his fuzzy cheek in return.

"Aang, Sokka, and Rinzen, I wish you good luck on your journey," King Kuei said as he approached them, Aang and Sokka wheeling around to face him even though Sokka still had Aang in a headlock as Rinzen pushed herself off Appa's leg to face the king properly. "Ba Sing Se owes you its thanks and we look forward to your return." Aang, Sokka, Rinzen, and Katara bowed politely to him as he did the same.

"Your Majesty," a guard prompted as he approached the group. "There are three female warriors here to see you from the island of Kyoshi."

Sokka perked up as he released Aang at last. "That's Suki!"

"You know these warriors?" King Kuei asked politely, puzzled.

"Oh, yeah. The Kyoshi warriors are a skilled group of fighters, and trustworthy. They're good friends of ours," Sokka explained.

King Kuei nodded decisively. "Then we will treat them as honored guests." He began to return to the palace and Aang, Sokka, and Rinzen took that as their cue to begin getting onto Appa.

"Wait, Aang," Katara said hurriedly to stop him before leaning in to kiss his cheek swiftly, causing him to blush so hard that even the tips of his ears turned pink.

"I'm really gonna miss you guys," Toph said quietly at last, speaking for the first time since she and Sokka had arrived.

"Me, too," Katara agreed, sounding a little forlorn even though she was still blushing a little at the kiss she had given Aang.

"So am I," Aang said as he moved in to hug Toph at the same time as Katara. Rinzen closed the space between them as well to wrap one arm around Toph's shoulders and the other around Aang's, glaring pointedly at Sokka until he joined the group hug with a goodnatured grumble and a smile. Soon, though, they all had to let go and Aang, Sokka, and Rinzen clambered into Appa's saddle, setting off towards Chameleon Bay.

"You see, Aang, I told you positive attitude would work," Sokka said confidently as he settled into the saddle, stretching out as they flew over the walls of Ba Sing Se. Momo climbed down from Rinzen's shoulder to settle in her lap, curling up for the long flight. "The king's on our side, we got Long Feng arrested, and when we get back, Suki's waiting for me."

"Yeah," Aang said, sounding dreamy, and Rinzen looked back at him to find him touching the spot on his cheek where Katara had kissed him. "Girls are waiting for us. Thanks, positive attitude."

Rinzen shook her head fondly, but then Sokka added, "Oh, and one specific boy's waiting for Rin, too." She flushed brightly and ducked her head, not protesting for once, and Sokka gaped at her as the implication sank in. "Seriously? You and Lee? I mean, I know I've been saying it for a while now, but I was only kidding!"

"Really, Rin?" Aang asked, suddenly sounding a little less enthusiastic than Sokka, and Rinzen peeked up at him to find him staring at her with an unreadable expression on his face.

"I, um." She dropped her gaze back to her hands, twisted together helplessly in her lap beside Momo's head. "Lee and I are...yeah." She didn't know what to call what she and Zuko were to each other, but they certainly didn't seem to be just friends anymore.

"Good," Aang said decisively after a moment and she glanced up at him again only to find him giving her a small smile. "That's good. You're happy, that's what matters."

"Well, do you two wanna know what _I_ think?" Sokka demanded plaintively.

"Nope," Rinzen and Aang answered immediately in unison and Sokka huffed indignantly before crossing his arms and sinking back against the edge of the saddle sulkily.

"I was only gonna say that I called it."

Rinzen stretched her leg across the saddle to kick his shin.

* * *

"I can't believe it's been over two years since you saw your dad," Aang said as he guided Appa down to the opening of the large bay, where they could see four large Water Tribe ships with deep blue sails docked near the rocky beach. "You must be so excited."

"I know I should be," Sokka answered hesitantly, his expression nauseous. "But right now, I just feel sick to my stomach." His stomach gurgled audibly as if to make his point.

Rinzen frowned. "I'm pretty sure you're just hungry. Which, let's be honest, you always are." She knew Sokka was being serious, though, since he didn't even roll his eyes or acknowledge her teasing comment as he stared nervously down at the encampment of blue tents below. "He's gonna be happy to see you," she reassured him a little more sincerely.

"You think so?" He glanced back up at her, the vulnerability on his face surprising her.

"We know so," Aang insisted. "You don't have to be nervous."

Sokka relaxed a little, giving Aang a small smile back. "What about you? You nervous to meet this guru?"

"Not at all," Aang answered firmly. "I'm ready to master the Avatar State. I'll do whatever it takes." He nudged Appa until the bison landed on the rocky shore and Sokka grabbed his pack - after sawing off the knot of rope securing it to the other two packs while muttering complaints under his breath about Rinzen's knotwork - before climbing down. "See you in a week!" Aang said cheerfully and Rinzen waved as they took off, leaving Sokka to start walking towards the encampment.

"Are you actually not nervous or were you just saying that to make him feel better?" she deadpanned as she moved to sit beside Aang on Appa's head, nudging her shoulder fondly against his.

He shrugged. "I mean, I don't know what exactly this guru's gonna have me do, but if it means getting more control of the Avatar State, that's gotta be worth trying, right?" He glanced up at her tentatively. "What do you think?"

She gave him a small smile. "I think you're right. It'd definitely be useful to have control of it, at least a little more than you do now."

He hummed quietly in agreement, turning to face the open air in front of them as he rubbed Appa's forehead with one hand, clutching the reins in the other. "First time it's been just the two of us in a long time now," he said after a moment.

Rinzen nodded, settling back against Appa's neck and watching clouds drift past them. "Yeah, I know." She hesitated before glancing back at him. "Why, did you miss it?"

"A little," he confessed, dropping his gaze away from her. "Don't get me wrong, I love our friends, and you've got Lee, and-"

"-and you've got Katara," she finished for him, grinning slightly, and he flushed with embarrassment, elbowing her side sharply in response.

"That's not what I was gonna say." He chewed his lip, debating over his next words. "I just...I don't wanna lose what we've got just because we've got other people in our lives, y'know?"

She nodded; she had had a feeling that the thought had been worrying him since the moment he had found out about her relationship with Lee. "I know, I get that." She tossed her arm around his shoulders, tugging him into a loose embrace. "Don't worry, you're always gonna be number one in my life. Even if you're just my dorky little brother."

"Hey!" he protested, squirming away to try and elbow her again as she dodged him with a laugh, and they settled in for the long flight to the Eastern Air Temple together, both of them feeling far more at ease than they had before.

* * *

As the highest spires of the Eastern Air Temple pierced through the fluffy clouds ahead of them, Rinzen sat up a little to try and see it better, unsure how to feel about returning to one of the temples after so long. Momo hissed when she moved at the disturbance, but settled back down after she stroked his fur a few times.

Aang knocked his shoulder lightly against hers as he frowned, sitting up as well. "What is it?" It only took a moment for him to realize the answer to his own question. "You scared of what you'll see there?"

"You were at the Southern Air Temple," she reminded him. "You saw how it was."

"I've also been to the Northern Air Temple and it was different," he answered with a small shrug. "Not every temple's gonna be how the southern one was. Nobody had set foot in our temple since-" He broke off, but she knew what he had meant to say. "Anyway, this guru's been here for years, and I doubt he'd've been living with skeletons all this time."

She hesitated before admitting after a moment, "I'd like to go back someday and see it. Our home, I mean."

He nodded, managing a small smile back at her. "We'll go together sometime." He placed his hand on her shoulder, squeezing it briefly before tugging on Appa's reins to start their descent towards the temple.

As they approached, Rinzen let herself look over the familiar architecture nestled on the mountaintop and framed by the setting sun, frowning at the lack of gliders in the air surrounding the temple. She knew no one but the guru probably lived there now, but it was surreal to see a structure once so full of life now barren and empty. Appa landed neatly at the base of the temple and Momo took flight until he landed at the edge of the round dais above them at the top of a flight of stairs. A thin, dark-skinned man sat meditating upon the dais, his eyes closed and his legs folded in a lotus position.

"Hello?" Aang called, climbing down from Appa's head and starting for the stairs as Rinzen followed him, trying not to think about how Aang's voice seemed to echo around the empty temple that had once been bustling with life. "You're Guru Pathik, right? You're the one who attached the note to Appa's horn?"

"Indeed," the man answered, his accent heavy as he opened his eyes to smile serenely at them. "I was a spiritual brother to your people, and a personal friend of Monk Gyatso."

"You knew Monk Gyatso?" Rinzen clarified, stopping in her tracks in surprise at the edge of the dais.

"Of course. He always spoke so highly of his favorite pupils." Guru Pathik smiled kindly at both of them, which encouraged Aang to slowly take a seat in front of him in the same lotus position.

"In your note, you said you could teach me to gain control of the Avatar State. How?"

"To bring balance to the world, you must first gain balance within yourself." Guru Pathik held out a small wooden cup filled with a thick yellow liquid. "And the first step to gaining balance begins with this. Drink up!"

Before Rinzen could warn Aang to exercise some caution in taking drinks from strangers, he had already accepted the cup and taken a large swig before promptly spitting it out and gagging. "What is that?!" he cried with disgust as Rinzen stifled a laugh at his expense. "It tastes like onion and banana juice!"

"That's because it is," Guru Pathik answered cheerfully, gulping from his own cup of onion-banana juice and emptying it in seconds. "Yum, yum."

Aang gaped at the old man in horrified disbelief and Rinzen took a little pity on her brother, taking a seat beside him and patting his back soothingly. "Can't gain inner balance without onion-banana juice," she deadpanned and he glowered at her balefully, dabbing at his streaming eyes with his sleeve. She grinned back at him in response before her amusement faded when she noticed Guru Pathik's eyes on her, studying her calmly and curiously. "What?" she asked, feeling self-conscious and uneasy under his clear, steady gaze.

"You could use some inner balance yourself," the guru answered dryly, holding out another cup of onion-banana juice that he had seemingly pulled out of thin air.

"Uh, no, I'm okay, but thanks," Rinzen said quickly, eyeing the cup warily.

"You've neglected your spiritual training long enough, don't you think, little one?" His tone wasn't condescending or harsh in the slightest, and yet it still felt a little like she was being silently judged the longer she avoided drinking the onion-banana juice. She reluctantly accepted the cup, not wanting to be rude, and ignored Aang's snicker aimed at her as she forced herself to swallow a sip of the vile concoction without a single complaint, despite how it burned her nose and throat on the way down and made her shudder.

Satisfied, Guru Pathik clapped his hands together and climbed to his feet far more nimbly than Rinzen had expected for a man so old and feeble-looking.

"Come now. There is much to do and little time." The two airbenders scrambled to their feet to follow him down the stone steps again, sparing a moment to pat Appa's side briefly as they passed the sky bison.

* * *

 **lol guess who was suffering from writer's block for way too long**

 **I also had a _lot_ of stuff going on like graduating with my Master's degree, starting a new job, and actually learning to be an adult. So sorry for the delay, but I'm working on writing up the next chapter already, since I know this one was pretty short!**

 **I hope you enjoy!**


	7. Inner Balance

**Chapter 7: Inner Balance**

* * *

The guru led them down several winding paths to the base of the mountain and into a rocky crevasse filled with boulders and tiny streams that sounded like wind chimes as they trickled down over the damp rocks. He stopped at a murky, moss-filled pond where some of the stream water had gathered, grabbing a long stick from the ground.

"In order to gain inner balance and therefore master the Avatar State, you must open all of your chakras," he explained as he faced Aang and Rinzen. "Tell me everything you know about chakras, Aang."

Aang shook his head in confusion. "What are chakras?"

"They're centers of spiritual energy," Rinzen answered for him. "Each located in different areas of our bodies." He gave her an incredulous look, surprised, and she added defensively, "What? Just because I'm not as spiritual as most of the monks were, doesn't mean I don't know what chakras are."

"In any case, you are exactly correct." Guru Pathik gave her a pleased smile. "The water flows through these creeks much like the energy flows through your body." He poked the stick he had picked up into the pond, swirling around the algae until a few spots of clear water were visible. "These pools are where the water gathers before flowing on, the same way chakras act as pools for the energy within you. If nothing else were around, this creek would flow pure and clear. However, life is messy, and things tend to fall in the creek, and then what happens?" He glanced up expectantly at Aang, who was ready for the question this time.

"The creek can't flow?"

"Yes. But if we open the path between the pools-" Guru Pathik used the stick to nudge a clump of moss at the base of the pool until it moved out of the way and the water began to trickle steadily down to the next pool, clean and clear.

"The energy flows," Rinzen finished quietly. Satisfied, Guru Pathik set down the stick and waved them on to follow him into a nearby misty cavern. The stone walls were damp and the ceiling of the cave opened up to reveal the beautiful starry night sky above them. The guru sat down on the ground in the center of the cavern, nodding for the airbenders to be seated in front of him as they obeyed.

"There are seven chakras that go up the body. Each pool of energy has a purpose, and can be blocked by a specific kind of emotional muck." He stared Rinzen and Aang down for a moment, weighing his words carefully before continuing, "Be warned. Opening the chakras is an intense experience, and once you begin the process, you cannot stop until all seven are open. Are you ready?"

Rinzen glanced at Aang to find that he was pale and looked nervous, but nodding his head all the same. "I'll do whatever it takes," he answered firmly.

Guru Pathik nodded slowly in response, folding his legs into the lotus position as they imitated him. "First we will open the Earth chakra, located at the base of the spine. It deals with survival and is blocked by fear." Rinzen found herself pressing her shoulder to Aang's, trying to keep herself grounded in the present. She closed her eyes and focused on the base of her spine, trying to imagine it as a pool of energy, but it felt more like the spot on her back that was currently aching from sitting on the cold, hard cave floor. "What are you most afraid of?" Guru Pathik prompted. "Let your fears become clear to you."

A vision of Aang crumpled like a tiny doll on the ground, looking small, cold, and lifeless, sprang to the forefront of Rinzen's mind instantly. She shuddered a little, swallowing back the growing lump in her throat as she resisted the instinct to reach for Aang's hand so that she wouldn't break his concentration on whatever his own fears were.

Even as she did her best to banish the image from her mind, it was already fading to reveal another scene that she had never imagined before, but found just as terrifying - Zuko standing at Azula's side, his cold, harsh expression matching his sister's and fire burning in his fists as they aimed at Rinzen's face. She cringed away from the vision, but to her surprise, Aang cried out in fear instead of her.

Her eyes snapped open and she found herself back in the damp, cold cavern under the Eastern Air Temple, Aang curled in on himself at her side and trembling. Guru Pathik's eyes were fixed on them, his expression still calm and unconcerned.

"Your visions are not real," he said soothingly. "You must surrender those fears. Let them flow down the creek."

Exhaling shakily, Rinzen closed her eyes again, doing her best to focus on the visions she had seen and trying to dismiss them again. Aang would be safe, she told herself firmly, and Zuko had changed. He cared too much about her and his uncle to betray them now and she was tired of doubting him. She forced the images out of her mind, pushing them away like the paper boats she and Aang had always folded and floated down a stream whenever it rained when they had been younger.

She opened her eyes again to find Aang sitting up again and breathing steadily, despite the sweat clinging to his forehead, the only sign remaining of his stress only moments earlier. He opened his eyes, glancing back up at her and giving her a small, weak smile of relief. She decided not to ask him what he had seen and settled for slipping her hand into his to squeeze his fingers tightly. He squeezed her hand back briefly, swallowing audibly.

"You have opened your Earth chakra," Guru Pathik said with a warm, proud smile. "Well done, both of you." He reached out, his bony hand patting each of them on the shoulder twice before he climbed to his feet. "Are you ready to move on?"

"Yeah." Aang got to his feet a little unsteadily and Rinzen let him pull her up as well, not daring to release his hand after what they had just gone through. If it was any indication of what was ahead, then the guru hadn't been exaggerating how difficult the process would be. Aang didn't seem eager to let go of her hand, either, lacing their fingers together as they walked with Guru Pathik out of the cavern and up the mountain trail to a rushing waterfall.

"Next is the Water chakra?" Rinzen guessed wryly as they followed the old man behind the waterfall and took a seat on the damp stone of the ledge there. The sound of the waterfall roared in her ears, nearly deafening her as Guru Pathik smiled at her.

"You may make an excellent guru yourself one of these days," he praised her. "Yes, the Water chakra is next. This chakra deals with pleasure, and is blocked by guilt." His smile faded, replaced by a serious expression as he folded himself back into the lotus position and the airbenders did the same. "Now, look at all the guilt which burdens you so. What do you blame yourself for?"

Rinzen began to close her eyes the way she had before to meditate, but Aang had already delved deep into the recesses of his mind as he spoke solemnly, "I ran away." She glanced back at him to find his eyebrows knitted together in sorrow, his expression torn and anguished even as he kept his eyes closed. "I hurt all of those people," he added, a deep pain she had never heard before in his voice, and she knew he was talking about the Earth Kingdom fortress they had visited months ago, when Katara had been taken captive by the general and Aang had entered the Avatar State, destroying the fortress in a fit of rage before Rinzen and Katara had managed to bring him back to himself.

"Accept the reality that these things happened, but do not let them cloud and poison your energy. If you are to be a positive influence on the world, you need to forgive yourself," Guru Pathik said kindly and Aang took a deep breath, releasing it and slowly nodding as he opened his eyes before looking up at Rinzen.

"Your turn?" he offered and she grimaced, not wanting to think too deeply on whatever guilts plagued her.

"I thought this was supposed to be _your_ spiritual journey," she reminded him dryly.

"Well, it's ours now," he pointed out. "You already started the process, you gotta see it through."

She glanced at Guru Pathik for support, but he was nodding in agreement, much to her chagrin. "Aang is right. You must finish what you started, or you will never be whole."

She didn't like the thought of being incomplete, although she wasn't entirely sure what that might feel like, so she obediently closed her eyes, thinking about the times she had felt guilt in her life. There hadn't been many, of course; she attributed that to being as sheltered as she had been for most of her life, just as Aang had been. Still, there was one burden of guilt in particular that weighed heavily on her and swirled unpleasantly in her navel, more so now than it might have at any other time.

"Rin?" her brother prompted tentatively after several long moments of silence and she exhaled quietly, focusing on the roar of the waterfall cascading just feet away from them as the memory slowly came to her.

"Do you remember when we were little? Like, _really_ little?"

"Sure," he answered, sounding confused. "We used to actually play together back then, before the monks decided we had to start our training separate from each other. What makes you feel so guilty about that?"

"You fell into a river once," she admitted. "I should've known better than to suggest we play by a flooded river during the monsoon season, but I did, and you nearly drowned before I managed to get help."

Aang was silent for a moment and Rinzen opened her eyes, wary of the expression she would find on his face, but all she saw was a small frown as he struggled to recollect the incident. "How old were we?" he asked slowly.

"You were only two years old," she answered. "I was six."

To her surprise, he rolled his eyes, a smile tugging at his lips. "We were just kids. It's not like you could've known I'd fall into the river. Is _that_ why you're so overprotective?"

"I mean, _part_ of the reason why," she muttered, feeling a little stung and offended by how casually he was taking it. "Why are you even smiling? I nearly got you killed!"

"I mean, that's kind of a stretch," he pointed out, his shoulders shaking slightly as he did his best to stifle a laugh at the indignation on her face. "You didn't push me in, did you?"

"No!" she insisted, feeling a stab of horror at the thought.

"And you got help, didn't you?" he pressed and she nodded.

"Monk Gyatso pulled you out. You had a fever for a week after that, but you were okay."

"See? No harm done." Aang's amused smile melted into a softer, sincere one. "Rin, you can't go on feeling guilty for everything that happens to me. I know it just means you care, but you're never gonna have a life of your own if you keep worrying about mine." He reached out and she let him grasp her hand in his own. "It was just an accident. Let it go, okay? It wasn't your fault." As she focused on his thumb rubbing over her knuckles, she released the heavy guilt with a slow exhale of breath. The unpleasant swirling sensation in her navel dissipated and when she looked up at Guru Pathik, he was nodding with a warm smile.

"Well done. You have opened your Water chakra." As they got to their feet and the old man began to lead them out from behind the waterfall to the next location, Aang knocked his shoulder against Rinzen's lightly.

"Have you really been worrying about that all these years?" he whispered to her as they walked, frowning again.

She shrugged mildly, feeling somewhat uncomfortable under his scrutinizing stare. "It's like you said, we were kids. And I thought it was my fault for a long time. I mean, to be fair, I knew you were the Avatar since you were born. The monks kind of drilled it into my head that you had to be kept safe, and I nearly let you drown. They wouldn't so much as look at me for weeks after that, except Monk Gyatso."

"I always thought the monks knew everything back then," he admitted as they followed Guru Pathik up a steep mountain trail leading to a misty peak. "But now I'm starting to think they weren't so perfect, after all. They really did a number on you."

"What's that mean?" Rinzen stopped in her tracks, frowning back at him, and he hesitated.

"It's just...look, I know you care about me, and I really appreciate how much you try to protect me. But it's like they brainwashed you or something so you'd never think about anything but keeping me safe, and that's not fair to you," he explained. He grimaced after a moment and added quickly, "Sorry. That's not the right way to word it. They didn't _brainwash_ you, not like the Dai Li brainwashed all those people in Ba Sing Se."

"No, I get it," she reassured him, chewing her lip as she began to follow him and Guru Pathik again up the mountain. As much as she wanted to believe the monks had raised her the way they had for Aang's safety, she was beginning to think Aang had a point.

While she had originally thought Guru Pathik would take them to the very top of the mountain, he stopped on a ledge and sat down. Knowing how it would work by now, Aang and Rinzen sat beside him. So much time had passed since they had started the process that the sky was already beginning to lighten with the approaching dawn and Rinzen watched as the first dim rays of golden sunlight peeked over the horizon. She wondered if Zuko, far away as he was in Ba Sing Se, was waking up at that moment and drawing strength from the same sunrise she was seeing in front of her.

"The third chakra is the Fire chakra, located in the stomach," Guru Pathik explained, drawing her out of her thoughts, and Aang clutched at his growling stomach.

"My Fire chakra would like to eat something other than onion-banana juice," he admitted plaintively and Rinzen couldn't help but feel the emptiness of her own stomach in response.

Guru Pathik laughed, even though Aang hadn't been joking. "Good one! Moving on." He sobered up again just as quickly. "This chakra deals with willpower and is blocked by shame. What are you ashamed of? What are your biggest disappointments in yourself?"

Rinzen remained quiet, reflecting for a few moments, and just as before, Aang spoke before she could close her eyes to meditate. "I'm never gonna firebend again." The same deep pain entered his voice and she looked at him to find him opening his eyes and staring at his hands sadly.

"Aang?" she prompted softly for an explanation, the same way he had pressed her.

"The last time I did, I burned Katara," he confessed. "I can't do that to her, or anyone else again."

"You will never find balance if you deny this part of your life. You are the Avatar, and therefore, you are a firebender," Guru Pathik insisted, his tone not unkind, and Aang sighed as he closed his eyes again, drawing a deep breath and releasing it again slowly. The guru wrinkled his nose thoughtfully. "That chakra opened less like a flowing stream and more like a burping bison," he noted dryly.

As if to make his point, Aang burped slightly and Rinzen rolled her eyes. "Gross," she complained even as she closed her eyes to focus on opening her Fire chakra as well. Thinking of the Fire chakra only made her think of Zuko, and the guilt she felt whenever she had to hide anything from him about Aang or vice versa.

"I don't let people in," she said out loud, keeping her eyes shut to avoid seeing the look on Aang's face in response to her statement. "I compartmentalize too much."

"What do you mean? What are you-?" Aang broke off almost immediately as, even with her eyes closed, Rinzen could tell that Guru Pathik was raising a hand wordlessly to silence him.

Swallowing, she opened her eyes to turn and face Aang properly. "I know I don't always tell you everything, and I've always kept a lot to myself. It's one of my biggest faults."

Aang's eyebrows were furrowed slightly in concern even as he nodded a little. "It's okay, Rin. I know you're just trying to protect me. But you don't always have to."

"I know." She exhaled quietly, feeling the knot in her stomach loosen as the chakra opened. Nodding approvingly, Guru Pathik got to his feet, leading them to a fork in the mountain trail that led back to the ruins of the Eastern Air Temple rather than the peak.

"Aren't we going up?" Aang asked as they followed the old man, who shook his head.

"We will be saving the peak for last." He ushered them into an ancient shrine, seating himself on the floor of the broken building as they sat across from him. "The fourth chakra is located in the heart. It deals with love, and is blocked by grief." Rinzen already had a good idea of what grieved her as she looked up at one of the solemn statues of a female Air Nomad standing like a silent guard against the wall of the shrine. From the look on Aang's face, he was thinking along the same lines as he closed his eyes, his expression somber and melancholy. "Lay all your grief out in front of you," Guru Pathik urged. Rinzen wasn't keen on the idea, but obediently closed her eyes, focusing inward.

As if being struck by a tidal wave, the grief she had buried deep inside months ago slammed into her at full force, nearly overwhelming her, and it felt like invisible fingers had plunged into her chest and begun squeezing her heart within a vice-like grip. As she recalled how empty the temple they were currently sitting in and all the other temples were, and how they would never be filled with her people again, her eyes stung and she felt tears slip from beneath her closed eyelids before she could stop herself. She and Aang were all that was left of an entire culture and heritage, and she hardly knew the first thing about keeping it alive.

"You have indeed felt a great loss." Guru Pathik's voice penetrated through the cloud of grief and sorrow surrounding her. "But love is a form of energy, and it swirls all around us. The Air Nomads' love for you has not left this world. It is still inside of your hearts. It survives in the love you share for each other, and is reborn in the form of new love." For a moment, Rinzen thought of Zuko and felt heat rush into her face as she opened her eyes, the ache in her chest slowly fading as she dabbed at her eyes with her sleeve quickly. While the thought eased her grief just a little, she hardly even knew if what she and Zuko had could be considered love, when it was so new and unknown to her. She wasn't even sure she knew what that kind of love felt like.

Clearly, Aang did, though, because he was smiling as he opened his eyes and swiped at the tears on his cheeks. "Can I have some onion-banana juice, please?" he requested, his voice thick with emotion, and Rinzen wrapped her arm around his shoulders to pull him into a tight embrace as he buried his face into her shoulder in return.

* * *

After a brief break to gulp down another cup of onion-banana juice - Rinzen didn't know what had come over Aang, but she still hated the concoction just as much as she had before - they returned to another shrine, this time seating themselves in front of a massive statue of another female Air Nomad. She gazed serenely down at them, her stone eyes calm and unseeing, and Rinzen wondered if she would have felt this intimidated if she had grown up in the Eastern Air Temple as she had been meant to.

"Now, the fifth in the chain is the Sound chakra, located in the throat. It deals with truth, and is blocked by lies. The ones we tell ourselves." Guru Pathik studied each of the airbenders in turn and Rinzen felt like he was reaching inside her and pulling out every single lie she had ever told to lay them out in the open for all to see. Aang didn't even have to speak for the guru to see what he had been hiding. "You cannot lie about your own nature. You must accept that you are the Avatar," the old man insisted, kindly, but firmly. Aang exhaled quietly, his back straightening as if a burden had been lifted off his shoulders and yet still looking like the weight of the world was on them as he opened his eyes. "Very good, Aang," Guru Pathik praised before turning his eyes on Rinzen, who shuffled self-consciously. "Now. Is there something you would like to tell your brother?"

Wondering how he had known, Rinzen turned to face Aang, who was staring back at her so innocently that it only hurt her throat more to force the words out. "I haven't been entirely honest with you about Lee."

Aang blinked, having not expected the conversation to take that turn. "Lee?"

"That's not actually his name." She dropped her gaze away from his face, focusing on her hands in her lap instead. "It's Zuko."

Aang was silent for a long time and Rinzen hoped that he would be as accepting as he had always been, but this time, he suddenly shouted, sounding angrier than he had ever been at her before, "All this time, it's been _Zuko_?!" He pushed himself to his feet and she looked up warily to find him scowling down at her. "And you _lied_ to me about it?!"

"I didn't mean to!" She pushed herself to her feet as well, wondering when her little brother had grown so tall that he was almost nose-to-nose with her. "I was _going_ to tell you, but then one thing led to another and-"

"Great, more excuses, more lies!" He threw his hands up in the air, frustrated. "I can't _believe_ you!" He stormed out of the shrine and Rinzen glanced at Guru Pathik, only to find him looking vaguely amused at her distress.

"I would recommend making sure he doesn't leave," he pointed out and Rinzen ran a hand through her hair agitatedly as she nodded, hurrying after Aang to find him leaning against Appa's side, but not climbing into the saddle.

"I know I messed up," she said, feeling a little helpless and unsure what to say, and he glared at her before burying his face into Appa's fur unceremoniously. Sensing Aang's misery, the bison grumbled disapprovingly at Rinzen. "Not you, too," she complained, stroking Appa's nose to soothe him before focusing back on Aang. "I thought keeping Zuko a secret would protect you."

"And how exactly does that _protect_ me?" Aang snapped bitterly, his voice half-muffled by Appa's thick fur.

"I-" She broke off, not knowing the answer to that question herself. "I guess it doesn't," she admitted quietly, dropping her gaze to the cracked stone below her feet. "I thought the further I could keep you two apart, the safer you'd be, and the safer _he'd_ be." Aang didn't answer, but she heard him shuffle around to face her again and looked up to find him still glowering at her, but a little less harshly than before. "I told you, my biggest fault is not letting people in when I should. It took me this long just to start trusting Zuko a little. It took him freeing Appa down in Lake Laogai to-"

"He freed Appa?" Aang interrupted suddenly, his tone softer than it had been as his fingers curled protectively into Appa's fur.

"Yeah. He's changed, Aang. He's different, _better_ , and his uncle is, too. They've been living in Ba Sing Se for about as long as we've been there and not hurting anyone." Rinzen met her brother's eyes, silently trying to plead for forgiveness. "I shouldn't've kept them a secret from you, and I'm _sorry_. I should've trusted you."

"Yeah. You should've." Still, Aang relaxed slightly as he let go of Appa to close the space between himself and Rinzen, reaching for her hand as she let him take it. "You can't shut me out all the time and pretend it's for my protection when it's obviously for your own."

She winced, even though he no longer sounded angry. "I'm sorry." She clutched his hand tightly, lacing their fingers together. "It was selfish of me. I wanted to keep him for myself, as stupid as it sounds."

"Well, you're not wrong," Aang said wryly, but a smile was beginning to tug at the corner of his mouth. "You deserve to be a little selfish sometimes, but not like this. No more lies, no more secrets. Okay? Not from me, anyway."

"Okay." Rinzen managed a tiny smile back at him in return. "I really am sorry."

"I know you are." He squeezed her hand before releasing it again, starting to walk back to the shrine where they had left Guru Pathik after giving Appa one last pat to his side to reassure the bison. "Besides, I think you'll suffer enough when you tell Katara, Sokka, and Toph that I'm not upset about it anymore." He grinned cheekily back at her and she grimaced at how the others would react to Zuko's presence in Ba Sing Se. She knew that Toph wouldn't care quite as much because she lacked the history the others had had with Zuko and, to an extent, the Fire Nation altogether. But Katara and Sokka, the siblings who had lost their mother to the Fire Nation and been hunted directly by Zuko at one time, would be far less forgiving.

"I see your Sound chakra has been opened," Guru Pathik noted as the airbenders approached him again, getting to his feet and ushering them back to the mountain trail they had abandoned earlier. "I assume there won't be any further interruptions in your training?" The question was casual, but he gave them a stern look over his shoulder and they both shook their heads. "Good." He led them to another ledge similar to the one they had watched the sunrise on before. "The sixth pool of energy is the Light chakra, located in the center of the forehead. It deals with insight and is blocked by illusion. The greatest illusion of this world is the illusion of separation. Things you think are separate and different are actually one and the same."

"Like the four nations?" Aang asked as he sat down and closed his eyes to meditate, Rinzen following in his lead. As she closed her eyes, she imagined the world laid out like a map in front of her, each of the nations split by lines and colored based on their respective element. Slowly, she dismissed the colors, transforming the mental map into one unified nation.

"Yes. We are all one people, and yet live as if divided," Guru Pathik was saying as she drew herself back to the present, feeling less like a chakra had opened and more like a migraine was forming in the center of her forehead.

"Like the swamp and the tree connecting it all," she said to Aang, who nodded in agreement.

"Everything is connected."

"Exactly," Guru Pathik praised them. "Even the separation of the four elements is an illusion. If you open your mind, you will see that all the elements are one. Four parts of the same whole. Even metal is just a part of earth that has been purified and refined." Rinzen wondered vaguely if that meant earthbenders could bend metal, and if so, why no one had ever tried before.

Aang took a deep breath, exhaling before opening his eyes to smile back at Guru Pathik. "We're all connected," he repeated slowly and Guru Pathik nodded back.

"Just so." He beckoned for them to follow him up the mountain and Rinzen wondered just how much time passed whenever they entered their meditative states for each chakra they opened. The sun seemed to have only risen a few chakras ago, and yet the sky was already darkening again as they reached the mountain peak, the sun beginning to drift steadily lower toward the horizon.

"This is the last chakra, isn't it?" Aang asked as they took a seat on the flat surface of the mountaintop. The stars were beginning to become clearer in the evening sky and Rinzen tilted her head back briefly to admire the twinkling dots.

"Yes. Once you open this chakra, you will be able to go in and out of the Avatar State at will. And when you are in the Avatar State, you will have complete control and awareness of all your actions." Guru Pathik turned his clear gaze on Rinzen, who quickly took her eyes off the stars to avoid being reprimanded for not paying attention. "And you will both attain inner balance, something even some of the highest-esteemed monks never achieved."

Rinzen vaguely wondered if any of those monks had been the ones who had raised her, scolding her for putting so much as a toe out of line and punishing her strictly whenever she fell behind in her training, but was drawn out of her thoughts as Aang said firmly, "Let's do this." He shut his eyes, folding his legs in a lotus pose and withdrawing into his meditation.

"The Thought chakra is located at the crown of the head. It deals with pure cosmic energy and is blocked by earthly attachment. Meditate on what attaches you to this world," Guru Pathik instructed.

What attached her to the world? Rinzen was puzzled by the question as she closed her eyes, unsure how to even begin answering that. It was something only grown monks had ever had to ask themselves as they severed their earthly attachments and ascended to a higher state of enlightenment. What kept her grounded, away from all of that? Her first thought was Aang, and the need to protect him, but briefly, Zuko's face drifted to the forefront of her mind as well.

"Now, let all of those attachments go. Let them flow down the river. Forgotten," Guru Pathik continued, seemingly oblivious to her internal struggle.

"What?" Aang gasped, his concentration broken, and Rinzen forced her eyes open as well to find him gaping at the guru, stunned. "Why would I let go of Katara? I...I love her!"

That explained Aang's earthly attachment, and it took a moment for Rinzen to register what he had said. "You _love_ her? You're _twelve_!" she pointed out incredulously and he flushed bright red.

"Shut up," he muttered, embarrassed as he elbowed her side sharply. "Like you don't feel that way about Zuko." She felt her own cheeks redden, but didn't answer, unsure what exactly to call her feelings towards Zuko.

Guru Pathik cleared his throat, causing the airbenders to sober up again. "You must learn to let her go, or you cannot let the pure cosmic energy flow in from the universe."

"Why would I choose cosmic energy over Katara? How could it be a bad thing that I feel an attachment to her? Three chakras ago, that was a good thing," Aang grumbled sullenly.

"You _must_ learn to let her go," Guru Pathik insisted, sounding a little more stern now. "You must let _both_ of them go," he added to Rinzen, who frowned.

"No." She got to her feet and Aang looked up at her, confused. "I can live without spiritual enlightenment," she reminded him. "You can't. As much as I hate the idea of you letting Katara go, you're gonna have to if you want to control the Avatar State."

"Why should I have to let her go when you get to keep Zuko?!" he snapped back, sounding hurt. "That's not _fair_!"

"He's not my only earthly attachment!" she retorted. "And _excuse me_ if I don't want to let you go!"

Aang reeled back, looking like she had slapped him in the face. "...me?" His voice was small and she felt the anger drain away instantly as she sat back down slowly.

"Are you really surprised?" she said wryly.

"No. I guess not." Aang dropped his gaze to his knees. "I'll try to let her go," he agreed reluctantly, closing his eyes and focusing back on his meditation.

Guru Pathik turned his eyes on Rinzen again and she exhaled a little with frustration. "I can't promise it'll work, but I'll try," she promised him as she returned to her meditation as well.

She already knew well enough that she wouldn't let Aang go, but as much as it hurt her, she had to try and let Zuko go to get at least a little closer to inner balance. It felt like she was cutting through a fragile thread keeping them tied together, but just as she prepared to sever the attachment entirely, a vision swam in front of her eyes of Zuko, bound in chains and a cloth tied over his mouth in a makeshift gag as he struggled against his restraints. Where was Iroh? Why wasn't he helping Zuko escape? The horrible sensation that something was wrong made Rinzen open her eyes before she could stop herself.

"Katara!" Aang gasped as he jolted back to reality beside her.

"Zuko," she breathed, her voice sounding shaky even to her own ears as she glanced up at Aang, rattled to her core by the vision she had seen. "They're in trouble. Both of them."

Aang nodded, already climbing to his feet. "We have to go," he said apologetically to Guru Pathik, who looked alarmed as Rinzen hurried to follow Aang down the mountain trail.

"No, Aang! By choosing attachment, you have locked the chakra!" Aang stumbled to a halt and Rinzen grabbed his shoulder to steady herself before she tripped over her own feet. "If you leave now, you won't be able to go into the Avatar State at all!" Guru Pathik warned.

Rinzen bit her lip before offering quietly, "I can go back to Ba Sing Se myself, Aang. If something's wrong, I'll take care of it. You need to finish this."

"No." Aang turned his determined gaze up, meeting her eyes. "We're gonna take care of it together. Let's go." Turning his back on the guru, he headed down the mountain trail again. Rinzen didn't dare face the guru and the disappointment that was sure to be on his face, deciding to follow her brother instead.

* * *

 **Another update within one week?! Sound the alarms!**

 **Yeah, this is actually one of the chapters I've been mentally writing for a very, _very_ long time (since before I even began writing the first chapter of the first book, honestly). It's why this one is much longer than my other chapters and why it was much easier to write since I've been mentally writing the dialogue for months lol.**

 **I hope you enjoy it!**


	8. Within the Catacombs

**Chapter 8: Within the Catacombs**

* * *

Appa flew faster than either airbender on his head had ever seen him fly before, their mutual worry infecting him as he soared away from the Eastern Air Temple in the direction of Chameleon Bay to pick up Sokka. The wind whipped through Rinzen's clothes and roared in her ears, cold and biting despite the humid late spring evening as she clutched Appa's horn tightly to keep from being flung off by the strong breeze.

"Tell me what you saw," Aang said quietly, breaking the silence that had fallen between them ever since they had climbed onto Appa and taken off.

"I saw Zuko, chained up and held captive by someone," she answered, scrubbing a hand over her face to try and hide her exhaustion somehow. The past two nights of little to no sleep had begun to catch up with her, but she couldn't bring herself to even consider closing her eyes when she was so afraid of what she would find when they returned to Ba Sing Se.

"I saw Katara chained up, too," Aang confessed, drawing her out of her thoughts, and she slid her free arm around his hunched shoulders, knowing he was just as afraid as she was.

"We'll find them," she reassured him and he managed a weak smile back up at her.

"I know." He paused, debating his next words before admitting sincerely, "I don't know what to make of you and Zuko just yet, but I hope he's okay."

"Me, too." She dropped her gaze away from her brother. "I know it's not easy for you to wrap your head around, the idea of him and me. And I don't entirely know what he is to me, either. He's...he's just important to me." It felt like too much and at the same time too little to describe whatever Zuko was to her, and the confusion mingled with her worry made her head spin.

"That's all that matters," Aang answered, squeezing her knee lightly in return. "We've still got a long way to Ba Sing Se no matter how fast Appa flies, though. You should try and get some rest."

"And risk being blown off by the wind?" she deadpanned, cracking a tiny smile despite herself as she got to her feet and carefully made her way to their packs to retrieve a small loaf of bread to split between them. Despite the tension in Aang's shoulders, he couldn't stop a sigh of contentment from escaping as he bit into his half of the loaf.

"It's good to eat something that isn't onion-banana juice," he said fervently.

Rinzen couldn't help but agree as she nibbled on her own half, her stomach growling to remind her how empty of actual food it was and yet twisting unpleasantly with nausea at the same time. She forced down a few bites of bread before giving up altogether, stuffing the partly-eaten loaf back into her bag of food. She couldn't remember being this afraid for anyone in her life other than her brother, and the realization of how intense her fear for Zuko's safety was scared her just as much as imagining what could be happening to him in that moment.

Sensing her worry, Aang nudged her shoulder briefly with his own as she sat back down beside him on Appa's head. "He'll be okay," he said with a faint smile. "Both of them will." He sounded like he was reassuring himself more than her, but she appreciated the sentiment all the same.

"I know." She elbowed him back lightly, watching as the ridges of the mountains surrounding Chameleon Bay came into view.

Several Water Tribe warriors moved below on the rocky beach, loading the Water Tribe vessels with supplies, and she hoped Sokka hadn't already boarded one of the ships as they brought Appa down to land on the beach. To her relief, she saw Sokka standing on the wooden gangplank of one of the ships beside a man who could only be his father Hakoda based on how similar they looked, their packs in hand.

"This can't be good," Sokka said after one look at Aang and Rinzen's faces, grimacing.

"It's Katara," Aang blurted out, unable to stop himself as the worry spilled out of him. "I have a feeling she's in trouble, we have to go back to Ba Sing Se and find her."

"Go with them," Hakoda reassured Sokka, nudging him forward as his own eyebrows creased with concern. "We'll see each other again soon. Take care of your sister."

"I will, Dad." Sokka threw his arms around Hakoda, clutching him tightly for several long moments before reluctantly pulling away and hurrying to clamber into Appa's saddle. Aang snapped Appa's reins to take off again as Sokka tied down his pack beside Aang's and Rinzen's bags, peering down at the departing Water Tribe ships and giving Hakoda one last wave just before they cleared the ridge surrounding the bay and vanished out of sight.

* * *

"So what kind of trouble is Katara in?" Sokka demanded, clutching at the edge of Appa's saddle to keep his balance as he made his way to the front to peer down at Aang and Rinzen. The sun was just beginning to peek over the horizon as they flew, illuminating the world with bright golden rays. Even as beautiful as the sunrise was, Rinzen couldn't bring herself to admire it when she was still wracked with concern over Zuko and Katara's whereabouts.

"I don't know," Aang answered Sokka's question, pursing his lips worriedly. "In my vision, I just knew she needed help." He tossed a pointed glance at Rinzen, silently reminding her that she couldn't keep her own vision from Sokka for long, and she made a face back at him.

"You know, it would be nice if your Avatar powers could be a little more specific from time to time," Sokka grumbled and Rinzen took a deep breath.

"Katara's not the only one in trouble," she confessed and Sokka turned his attention to her, frowning now.

"Is Lee in trouble, too?"

"Well, his name's actually Zuko, but yeah," she said quickly in the hopes that he wouldn't take the revelation as badly, but his jaw dropped and she knew he had.

" _Zuko_?!" he echoed, stunned. "Your secret boyfriend's actually _Zuko_?!"

"Yeah, I know, right?" Aang deadpanned over his shoulder and Rinzen elbowed her brother roughly.

"He's _not_ my boyfriend," she said firmly to both of them. "I don't know what we are to each other, but that's not important right now. What's important is that both he and Katara are in danger and we have to get them _out_ of danger before it's too late."

"Yeah. Yeah, sure." Sokka still looked as if he had been hit over the head with a bag of bricks as he slumped back into the saddle. "Rin and _Zuko_. Jeez," she caught him muttering to himself and was relieved for the distraction when they heard a rumbling sound and saw a giant dust cloud moving below them. "What _is_ that?" Sokka asked as he pointed to the dust cloud.

"Let's find out," Aang said, curious now as he brought Appa lower to investigate. To Rinzen's relief, she recognized Toph's small figure skating on a large mound of earth, deliberately making her way in the same direction as them towards Ba Sing Se.

"Need a ride?" Sokka called out to Toph as they reached her level and she yelped, her concentration breaking as she toppled backward off the mound of earth. Sokka, Aang, and Rinzen all grimaced in sympathy as they brought Appa down to land briefly before Rinzen hopped off the sky bison to help Toph into the saddle. "So it turns out Rin's secret boyfriend is actually Zuko," Sokka said as soon as Toph was settled and Appa took off again, Rinzen rolling her eyes as she slid back down onto Appa's head.

"What, you didn't know that already?" Toph pointed out, raising an eyebrow.

"Wait, you _did_?" Rinzen demanded, turning to glance back at her in surprise, and the earthbender shrugged.

"I could tell you were lying since the moment you first mentioned him, and I figured out who he actually was since there's only one reason you'd lie about who he was and that's because you thought we'd be mad about it. I'm just surprised these two didn't figure it out sooner." She jabbed a thumb in Sokka and Aang's vague direction and the boys looked appropriately abashed, shuffling a little self-consciously. Thankfully, Toph took pity on Rinzen's growing embarrassment and changed the subject, asking Aang, "So how did it go with the guru? Did you master the Avatar State?"

Aang flinched slightly before forcing a smile onto his face. "Uh, sure. It went great. Definitely mastered it." He deliberately turned his back on them to focus on steering Appa. Sokka turned a questioning look on Rinzen, who pointedly shook her head with a wry smile, and then promptly relayed her response to Toph in a low whisper. The earthbender raised an eyebrow.

"You know we're gonna have to address this eventually, Twinkletoes," she pointed out and Aang grimaced, thankfully saved from responding as the outer wall of Ba Sing Se appeared on the horizon and Appa picked up speed.

* * *

"Katara is fine," King Kuei reassured them. They had burst into his throne room, explaining the situation hurriedly, only to have him shake his head back at them with a warm smile.

"But in my vision, I felt so sure she was in trouble," Aang insisted, glancing back at Rinzen worriedly, and she shrugged back at him helplessly. Even if Katara was safe, that didn't mean Zuko was, and she didn't know what to make of the situation.

"Well, she met with the Council of Generals to plan the invasion. And since then she's been off with your friends, the Kyoshi warriors," King Kuei answered.

"That settles it, then," Sokka said, relaxing. "She's with Suki. They're probably back at our apartment right now, talking about makeup or something."

"You trying to make a point about girls and their conversation topics?" Toph deadpanned, elbowing Sokka sharply as he winced.

"Maybe you're right," Aang admitted, although he still looked as unconvinced as Rinzen felt.

"Believe me, if there was any danger at all, Bosco's animal instinct would sense it," King Kuei said, gesturing to the large bear at his side. Rinzen still found the creature odd, as he was just a plain large brown bear with no other animal crossed with him, but he was charming in a certain way as he yawned widely and padded over to Rinzen to snuffle at her pockets in hopes of treats. She patted his head gently instead, scratching behind his ears. "He likes you," King Kuei pointed out with a small smile at her and she managed one back despite her worry for Katara and Zuko.

"We should check the apartment," Sokka said as Bosco trudged back to the king's side. "See if Katara and Suki are there."

"Right." They bowed to the Earth King before leaving the palace, making their way down the streets of the upper ring to the house they shared.

"Katara?" Aang called as they entered the house, shutting the door behind them. The hole in the house Toph had made was still there, only having been half-rebuilt.

"There's no one else here," Toph said, frowning as she shifted her feet to sense for other people in the building.

"I _knew_ something was wrong." Aang wrung his hands together worriedly. "We should check Zuko's place, too," he added to Rinzen, who nodded as she turned to head back for the door. Just as she reached for the handle, a knock came on the other side of the door.

"I know who it is," Toph said before Rinzen could call out to ask who it was. "It's an old friend of mine." Rinzen opened the door, relief flooding through her to find Iroh on the other side before she registered the worry on his face.

"I need your help," he blurted out.

"Wait, how do you two know each other?" Rinzen demanded, turning to Toph, who shrugged.

"We met in the woods once and I knocked him down. Then he gave me great tea and some pretty good advice." That did sound like something Iroh would do, Rinzen mused as she stepped back to allow Iroh into the house.

"Princess Azula is here in Ba Sing Se," he explained and Rinzen felt like a bucket of cold water had been poured over her head.

"She must have Katara," Sokka said angrily.

"And Zuko," Rinzen murmured, receiving a confirming nod from Iroh.

"Then we'll work together to fight Azula, and save Katara and Zuko," Aang said firmly.

"You lost me at 'Zuko,'" Sokka pointed out, frowning.

"I know how you must feel about my nephew," Iroh pleaded. "But you must believe me when I say there is good inside him."

"Good inside him isn't enough!" Sokka protested. "Come back when there's good _outside_ him, too!"

"Sokka," Rinzen said quietly and he exhaled loudly, scrubbing a hand over his face.

"Look, I know you two have a thing or whatever-"

"You do?" Iroh looked delighted suddenly and Rinzen rolled her eyes even as she flushed slightly.

"It's a relatively recent development, give me a break. You can tease us when Zuko's safe again." He sobered up just as quickly, nodding in response.

"Katara is in trouble. All of Ba Sing Se is in trouble. Working together is our best chance," Aang said as he turned to Sokka, who pinched his nose in deep thought for a moment before finally nodding reluctantly.

"Fine."

"I brought someone along who might be able to help us," Iroh said, leading them outside where a Dai Li agent was bound and gagged on the porch, trembling with fear.

Rinzen gaped at Iroh, stunned. "You kidnapped a Dai Li agent?" He shrugged modestly in response, reaching out to tug down the cloth covering the agent's mouth, and Rinzen recognized him as the one who had stopped her and Zuko all those weeks ago, when Zuko had first walked her home from the lower ring.

"Azula and Long Feng are plotting a coup. They're going to overthrow the Earth King," he blurted out, his voice shaking, and Rinzen wondered what Iroh had done to terrify him so much.

"My sister! Where are they keeping Katara?" Sokka demanded, unsheathing the machete on his back.

The agent gulped as Sokka aimed the machete at his throat. "In the crystal catacombs of old Ba Sing Se, deep beneath the palace." He eyed Rinzen warily when he noticed her glaring at him. "We took your friend there, too. The scarred firebender."

Rinzen clenched her fist, wanting nothing more than to punch the Dai Li agent as hard as she could in the nose, but stamped down the urge in favor of turning on her heel towards the palace. "Let's go. We have to warn the Earth King and get Katara and Zuko out of the catacombs."

* * *

As they approached the walls of the palace, Toph stopped in her tracks, frowning as she knelt to the ground and pressed her palm to it.

"That agent was right," she explained when everyone stopped and turned to her. "There _is_ an ancient city down there, but it's deep."

"Then let's split up," Sokka decided. "Toph and I can go warn the Earth King. Aang, you, Iroh, and Rin go look for Katara and the angry jerk. No offense," he added to Iroh, who shrugged mildly.

"None taken." Rinzen had a feeling Sokka would be bitter about Zuko being on their side for a while, but at least he wasn't being outright hostile about the idea.

She watched as Aang opened a pathway underground while Sokka and Toph made their way towards the palace, following her brother and Iroh into the dark, damp tunnel. Iroh lit a flame in his hand, holding it out in front of them as Aang continued to tunnel a path forward with earthbending and Rinzen focused on clearing stray bits of rock from their path with blasts of air. An awkward silence lingered between the three of them as they were unsure what to say to each other, especially now that Aang knew the truth.

"So, uh, Toph says you give pretty good advice and great tea," Aang said at last, breaking the silence as he moved his foot forward to drive another pile of rocks away from them.

"The key to both is proper aging," Iroh joked, stroking his beard with his free hand.

"You ought to try his butter tea sometime, it's just like the kind Monk Gyatso used to make at home," Rinzen added with a small smile, nudging her shoulder against Iroh's when he flushed at the praise.

"I'd like that sometime," Aang admitted, cheering up a little at the idea.

"What's on your mind?" Iroh prompted and the smile on Aang's face faded slightly.

"Rin and I met with this guru who was supposed to help me master the Avatar State, and control this great power. But to do it, I had to let go of someone I love, and I just couldn't." He peeked at Rinzen, hoping she would back him up with her own story, but she pointedly raised an eyebrow at him and kept her mouth shut.

"Perfection and power are overrated. I think you were very wise to choose happiness and love," Iroh answered easily. Rinzen didn't know why that soothed her as much as it did, even though she hadn't said anything about her own worries. To her relief, he didn't comment on the silent dialogue she and Aang had exchanged, only giving her a small reassuring smile in response to her glance in his direction, worried that he had caught on to what Aang had been hinting at.

"What happens if we can't save everyone and beat Azula? Without the Avatar State, what if I'm not powerful enough?" Aang confessed, his voice rising a little in panic at the thought.

Iroh sighed quietly. "I don't know the answer. Sometimes life is like this dark tunnel." He gestured around them. "You can't always see the light at the end of the tunnel, but if you just keep moving…" As if to punctuate his words, Aang managed to clear the last of the rocks and a dim green light spilled in. They stepped through the opening to find themselves in a large open cavern filled with glowing green stalactites and stalagmites, twin waterfalls cascading from an opening in the ceiling and pooling in a large pond below. "You will come to a better place," Iroh finished his train of thought, smiling as he extinguished the flame in his hand.

"Look." Rinzen pointed to a small dark tunnel in the wall of the cavern ahead of them. "That's the only way forward, it probably leads to where they have Zuko and Katara."

"Then let's go," Aang agreed, setting forward again. As they entered the tunnel, he placed his hand on the wall and dragged it along as they walked, tilting his head as if listening intently.

"What're you listening for?" Rinzen asked, frowning and wondering just how much he had learned from Toph when it came to earthbending.

"Vibrations from voices, movement, I don't know. Something that'll tell us where they are." He stopped in the middle of the tunnel, pursing his lips in concentration before turning to face the wall and then breaking through it with a well-aimed punch.

"Aang!" Katara exclaimed in surprise from the cavern they had just opened a hole into and Aang beamed as he rushed forward to hug Katara tightly. Zuko stood just behind Katara, motionless and stunned, and Rinzen was flooded with relief to see that he seemed unharmed. Iroh closed the space between himself and Zuko to hug his nephew as well as Rinzen made her way into the cavern, stepping around the piles of rocks crowding the entrance Aang had created. She couldn't quite read the expression on Zuko's face as he placed a hand briefly on his uncle's back to awkwardly return the embrace, but then he turned a sharp, mistrustful glare on Aang, who scowled right back at him over Katara's shoulder.

"What're you doing with the _Avatar_?" Zuko demanded to Iroh.

"Saving you, that's what," Aang shot back before Iroh could answer and Rinzen bit her lip as she moved the rest of the way forward, impulsively wrapping her arms around Zuko once Iroh let go.

"I'm glad you're safe," she mumbled into his shoulder. He was frozen for a moment before slowly sliding his arms around her in return as his anger drained away, clutching her more tightly than he had hugged Iroh. His fingers threaded into her hair, warm against the back of her head, and she buried her face into the crook of his neck.

"I thought you were at the Eastern Air Temple," he pointed out and she shook her head as she pulled back slightly.

"We both had a feeling something was wrong here, so we came back." She could feel both Katara and Aang's eyes burning into the back of her head, but ignored them, leaning up to press a brief kiss to the edge of Zuko's scar. He flushed bright red, but she could see the tiny smile tugging at his lips as he ducked his head to press his forehead against hers.

"I'm glad you did," he murmured back. Katara cleared her throat pointedly and Rinzen wished she hadn't as Zuko's smile vanished immediately. He pulled back, his arms and gaze dropping away from Rinzen, and reluctantly, she took a few steps back as well.

"We should find Sokka and Toph," Aang spoke up, breaking the awkward silence.

"Yes, go help your friends," Iroh agreed. "We'll be right behind you." He placed a hand on Zuko's shoulder and gave Rinzen a small, reassuring smile. She managed one back before hurrying to follow Katara and Aang out of the cavern.

"Really?" Katara complained the moment they were back in the tunnel and out of earshot. "You and _Zuko_?"

"Is now really the right time to be nagging me about this?" Rinzen answered irritably, still a little hurt by Zuko closing off the way he had.

"I thought you were dating a nice Earth Kingdom boy," Katara grumbled and Aang sighed heavily, rolling his eyes.

"Look, we can worry about that later. We have to find Sokka and Toph first and get out of Ba Sing Se," he reminded them as they entered the main cavern.

Rinzen felt a flare of searing heat behind her and turned sharply to find a volley of blue fire rocketing directly at them, but before she could react, Aang beat her to it, bending a large wall of earth up to block the fire. The wall didn't withstand the full impact, though, and blew apart, knocking Aang off his feet as he skidded several feet back. Azula stood above them on a ledge, her fingers smoking from the attack and a cruel smirk on her painted lips. She had swapped her usual red and black armor for shades of green instead, her hair tied back in a bun with a light green ribbon and two strands hanging neatly in front of her face.

Rinzen and Katara moved to engage her simultaneously, Rinzen sending a blast of air at Azula while Katara summoned a wave of water from the pool at the base of the waterfalls just as Azula threw another large ball of blue fire at them, leaping off the ledge as she did so. Rinzen's air blast knocked the fireball off its course and directly into Katara's wave of water, dissipating it into a large burst of thick steam that settled over them. The droplets of moisture clung to Rinzen's skin, wet and humid, and she peered through the steam to try and catch a glimpse of where Azula had gone. She could see Katara and Aang glancing around worriedly as well.

An almost-silent scrape of shoes against rock reached Rinzen's ears and she looked up just as Azula jumped down from one of the large green crystals hanging from the ceiling of the cavern, unleashing another powerful torrent of blue flame that vanished the steam as she landed neatly on a stone pillar jutting out from the ground. Katara and Aang moved in unison to extinguish the fire with another wave of water before Aang slammed his fists into the ground, unleashing a shockwave of earth that rumbled towards Azula.

She gasped as the pillar under her feet disintegrated and fell off the crumbling stone. She landed on the ground between Aang, Katara, and Rinzen, her hands extended to either side of her with little blue flames flickering on the tips of her fingers as a warning not to make another move. Her gold eyes, so much like Zuko's and yet much colder and more calculating, darted between them warily as she debated who to take on next. Rinzen had never seen her so disheveled and uneasy before and had a brief flash of hope that maybe they had a chance of getting away from her safely.

Before any of them could make a move, though, a blast of bright orange fire landed between them, causing Rinzen to jump back instinctively from the heat. She looked up to find Zuko jumping down from a ledge above them, flames on his fists, and felt relief cascade through her as he landed between them and Azula. The relief quickly faded when she saw the look on his face, torn and confused. Had Azula said something to him? Had she somehow turned him back to her side? Rinzen hoped that wasn't the case as he glanced between them and Azula, his eyes lingering momentarily on Rinzen's face. She tried to silently plead for a sign from him that he was on her side, that he had really changed and she had been right to put her faith in him. He closed his eyes briefly and she prayed that it was the sign she had been looking for.

Then he pivoted sharply on his heel and sent a powerful blast of fire directly at Aang.

* * *

 **Dun dun dun.**

 **This was the part of the story I've really been keen to get into this whole time, especially since it's the point of the plot where, for me, it turned a great show into a phenomenal one.**

 **I hope you enjoy it!**


	9. Into the Fire

**Chapter 9: Into the Fire**

* * *

Reacting quickly despite how fast her mind was spinning, Rinzen threw a blast of air to divert the attack before it could reach Aang. She only succeeded in slowing it down just enough to give him time to dive out of the way, his shoulder slamming into a large stalagmite jutting out from the ground. Even as she spun around to block Zuko's next barrage of fire blasts aimed at Aang, she caught a glimpse of the smirk on Azula's face as the younger firebender leapt at Katara and threw a jet of fire at her with an underhanded toss, clearly emboldened by Zuko's change of heart. Katara extinguished the fire with a stream of water from the waterskin on her belt, cracking the water like a whip in return.

Figuring that Katara could hold her own against Azula, Rinzen turned her attention back to Zuko, her hurt and confusion quickly giving way to anger. He was focused on targeting Aang, which gave her an opportunity to create a whirlwind and send it in his direction. The gust of wind threw him off-guard as he skidded back, giving Aang time to earthbend green crystals from the ground around himself like a shield. Zuko threw another fireball at Aang once he regained his balance and the force of the blast shattered Aang's shield, sending bits of crystal flying everywhere as Aang flew backwards.

Before Rinzen could rush in to stop Zuko from taking advantage of Aang's imbalance, Azula intercepted her with a crack of lightning aimed at her feet. Rinzen jumped back to avoid being singed by the bolt of electricity, grimacing at the sharp scent of ozone that lingered in the air where the lightning had struck before sending a powerful current of air at Azula. She was glad to see Katara rushing in to take on Zuko with water streaming behind her like giant tentacles while Aang recovered, scrambling to his feet and leaping up into the stalactites in the ceiling to drive one into the ground as hard as he could. Rinzen pushed herself into the air with a quick burst of wind at her feet to avoid the shockwave, Katara balancing herself on a wave of water, while the two firebenders were both swept off their feet.

Zuko was on his feet before Rinzen even touched the ground again, punching as hard as he could until a giant fireball flew out towards Katara as Azula rolled to her feet and did the same. Katara brought her wave of water around her like a shield, but the impact of the fire blasts threw her back into a cluster of green crystals, knocking her unconscious as her hair fell free of its usual neat braid. Rinzen hurried to help Katara, but she was intercepted by a team of Dai Li agents leaping out of the shadows and surrounding them. Azula smirked as she approached Rinzen, who knelt beside Katara as Zuko targeted Aang again. The younger airbender leapt nimbly between pillars of stone to avoid the lashes of fire aimed at him.

"Did you really think you had a chance with him?" Azula sneered, sparks of electricity dancing on her fingertips menacingly, and Rinzen scowled back at her, wondering silently how she had even known. "The Dai Li have been the eyes and ears of this city for years. There's no secret in Ba Sing Se that I don't know," Azula answered easily, as if reading Rinzen's mind.

"Well, you don't know anything about me and him," Rinzen snapped back.

"I know there was no way he would've settled for _you_." Azula rolled her eyes, crossing her arms. "You're an airbender _peasant_." She spat the word out like it was a curse. "And he's the prince of the Fire Nation. You'd have to be delusional to think he'd actually want you."

Rinzen knew she was only trying to get under her skin, but it still stung when she realized it was most likely true. What had it even meant, then, when he had kissed her and smiled at her the way he had only a few days ago before she had left for the Eastern Air Temple? She was distracted out of her thoughts as Katara winced and began to regain consciousness beside her. She placed a hand against Katara's shoulder to support her as the waterbender sat up, rubbing the back of her head.

"Face it," Azula said to get Rinzen's attention back on her. "You could never have made him happy." She turned to focus her attention on Aang, who was clearly beginning to tire under Zuko's constant barrage of attacks as he began to stumble more and more while dodging each fireball.

The truth in her statement combined with the image of the smug smile on her painted lips made Rinzen's temper flare as she pushed herself to her feet angrily, but the Dai Li were already closing in on them. Katara rolled to her feet quickly as well, bending the water on the cavern floor around herself and Rinzen until a ring surrounded them, tentacles of water spreading out like an octopus that lashed out at the Dai Li agents. As several more Dai Li agents descended from the ceiling, Rinzen sent a blade of air at the ropes attaching them to the ceiling, severing them and causing the agents to fall to the floor of the cave so that Katara could keep taking them out.

"There's too many of them," Katara said in frustration as she lashed out at another group of agents closing in them, knocking them back. Rinzen glanced around desperately, but there didn't even seem to be a gap they could escape through in the literal army surrounding them.

"It'd take a miracle to get out of this," she agreed reluctantly, still feeling like her heart was in pieces as she sent out an air current between the tentacles of water to throw back a Dai Li agent trying to climb past their defenses.

As if answering their prayers, suddenly, a bright burst of light filled the cavern. Katara and Rinzen turned to find the source of the light only to see Aang rising into the air, his eyes and tattoo glowing pure white and a pillar of cosmic light surrounding him. Rinzen felt a flash of hope as she watched her brother enter the Avatar State, far more calm and controlled than she had ever seen him before. Maybe he had learned to let Katara go and mastered the Avatar State, just as Guru Pathik had taught him, and as much as it hurt Rinzen to know that he had let Katara go, it still meant he had gained inner balance. She felt more proud of him in that instant than she had ever been.

Then Aang spasmed suddenly in mid-air as lightning flashed behind him. His eyes widened as he writhed in agony like a worm on an invisible hook before the glow in his eyes and arrows disappeared abruptly, like a candle being snuffed out, and he began to fall, as if in slow motion, to the ground.

The world around Rinzen seemed to fall silent. Her mouth fell open, as if to scream in horror, but the sound caught in her throat, choking her into silence. Her eyes focused on Azula on the ground behind Aang, smirking as her fingers smoked with the remnants of the lightning bolt she had shot at Aang. Zuko, just behind his sister, was frozen like a statue, clearly in as much shock as Rinzen herself at what Azula had done. Even from the distance Rinzen was at, she could see the angry red burn on Aang's back and the tiny burn on his foot where the lightning had exited as he fell.

Even as she forced one foot to move forward from where it was rooted to the ground to try and catch Aang, Katara was already moving forward swiftly, her expression filled with rage and grief as she threw her arms behind her until a wave was sweeping her forward, wiping out the Dai Li agents surrounding her. She caught Aang before he hit the ground, collapsing to her knees with him cradled against her shoulder. He looked so small in Katara's arms, crumpled like a paper doll with his clothes burned and tattered and his skin sickly and pale in the dim green light of the cavern. Katara looked up at Rinzen, tears streaming down her cheeks, and the devastated expression on her face combined with the fact that Aang's chest wasn't rising or falling confirmed Rinzen's worst fear as her heart stuttered in her chest.

Aang was dead.

She wanted to move forward, run to Katara and Aang, but her knees gave way instead and she collapsed. Before she could force herself to her feet again, she felt two rock gloves surrounding her wrists and yanking them behind her back. She couldn't bring herself to fight off the iron grip of her captors, her eyes fixed on her brother's lifeless body in Katara's arms.

"Rin!" Katara cried hoarsely, but Rinzen couldn't muster the energy to respond. If her heart had been in pieces before, it felt like the pieces had been ground into dust now, leaving a hole in her chest that ached with each breath she drew. Zuko and Azula began to close in on Katara, who clutched Aang protectively like a lifeline, but to Rinzen's relief, a blast of fire landed between the siblings and Katara, separating them as Iroh jumped down from a ledge above them.

"Get out of here!" he shouted to Katara, who looked torn as she glanced back at Rinzen, not wanting to leave her behind. "I'll hold them off as long as I can!" He threw out another wave of fire to keep Zuko, Azula, and the other Dai Li agents at bay. Katara threw another desperate look at Rinzen, who forced herself to nod back at her.

"Go," she insisted, her voice barely more than a whisper, and tears welled in Katara's eyes again as she glanced down sadly at Aang, still limp in her arms, before bending a twisting current of water to carry them upwards and out of the cavern. Rinzen hoped she would find a peaceful, quiet place to bury Aang before retreating with Sokka and Toph into hiding somewhere on Appa until the solar eclipse.

The moment Katara vanished out of sight with Aang's body, Iroh ceased his attack, surrendering silently as the Dai Li bent several crystals around him to encase him in a prison. Zuko took a step forward, his mouth opening as if to say something, but Iroh pointedly turned his head away from his nephew, closing his eyes in disappointment. Zuko closed his mouth again, his teeth sinking into his lip hard as he glanced at Rinzen. She purposely turned her face away and shut her eyes as well, unable to look at him without seeing Aang laying dead in Katara's arms, the direct result of Zuko's betrayal.

"Take them away," Azula said dismissively, waving one hand at the Dai Li agents that held Iroh and Rinzen captive. "We'll need to keep them in prison until we arrange transportation back to the Fire Nation." She placed a hand on her brother's shoulder, squeezing it lightly. "You did well, Zuko. Father will be very pleased."

As the Dai Li dragged Iroh and Rinzen out of the cavern, Rinzen wished she hadn't opened her eyes just in time to see a torn expression on Zuko's face again.

* * *

"I'm supposed to tell you we're leaving for the Fire Nation at the end of the week," Mai said as she leaned on Rinzen's open cell door with her usual bored expression on her face as she studied her nails. When Rinzen didn't respond, she looked up from her nails. "Did you hear me?" she asked, sounding a little more annoyed now. "Or are you deaf as well as a homewrecker?"

Azula had tried to gloat once soon after Rinzen had been taken prisoner, telling her how Zuko had kissed Mai the moment he had seen her and how Mai was such a better fit for him, being of Fire Nation nobility, and how they had been childhood sweethearts before Zuko's banishment. If nothing else, it explained why Mai kept given Rinzen dirty looks constantly. When Rinzen hadn't reacted to Azula's taunts, too tired from grieving to care what she had to say, the princess had huffed slightly and left, muttering that the airbender was no fun.

"Is _that_ what all the hostility's about?" Rinzen deadpanned in response to Mai, her voice hoarse from lack of use as her throat ached. It was the first time she had spoken in the week since she had been taken prisoner. "You can relax, he's all yours." It didn't even hurt to give Zuko up so easily, especially after what he had done. "Although fair warning, he's really good at betraying people," she added dryly and Mai scowled back at her, a small knife glinting between her fingers in warning.

"Watch your tongue before I cut it off. And stay away from Zuko."

"No problems there, I don't even wanna see him," Rinzen answered with a humorless smile. Zuko had tried to come down to the cell block on the first night she and Iroh had been imprisoned, but he had quickly changed his mind and turned around when a Dai Li agent had asked him what he was doing. She had heard the whole exchange, but hadn't bothered to get up and try to see him.

"I mean it," Mai insisted, pushing herself off the wall to face Rinzen properly as her grip on the handle of her knife tightened. "You stay away from him or-"

"My brother is _dead_ because of him!" Rinzen interrupted harshly and to her surprise, Mai's eyes widened slightly. "Do you honestly think I care about Zuko at all after what he did?!" She knew it was a bad idea to turn her back, but she did so, anyway, facing the dull gray stone wall of the prison cell. Her eyes burned as tears welled in them, but she refused to give Mai the satisfaction of seeing her cry. She had already shed enough tears over the past week while she had been locked up in solitude.

She heard Mai shuffling slightly in the doorway, hesitating before she muttered quietly, almost guiltily, "Sorry for your loss." To Rinzen's surprise, she sounded genuine. Her footsteps retreated into the hallway and the door slammed shut and locked behind her.

After a beat of silence once the last of Mai's footsteps faded in the distance, Iroh spoke quietly from the cell beside Rinzen's. "I was beginning to think I'd never hear your voice again." He tried to sound a little cheerful for her sake, but Rinzen could hear the heavy grief in his voice at the loss of his nephew. She couldn't quite see him from the angle their cells were at, but his voice was still clear.

"Yeah, well. Had a squirrel-frog in my throat." Rinzen couldn't find a better excuse than a feeble joke as she shuffled as close to the cell wall as she could to better hear Iroh's voice. When Azula and the Dai Li weren't nearby, it was a comfort just to listen to him talk, even when she couldn't form words of her own. The cuffs on her wrists keeping her chained to the ground stopped her from reaching the wall properly, but she did her best to settle as close as she could. "How're you doing?" she asked, finally realizing it was the first time she had bothered to even consider how Iroh was feeling as a pang of guilt settled in her heart.

"Don't worry about me," Iroh reassured her quickly. "I'll be alright."

"Hey, um, I'm sorry about what I said," she apologized, feeling even more guilty when she realized he had heard her conversation with Mai.

"It's not your fault that he hurt you," Iroh insisted and the reassurance felt like a balm on her aching soul. "You're welcome to feel however you do about my nephew."

The truth was, even as much as Rinzen wanted to hate Zuko for what he had done, it was impossible, especially when she had seen how happy he had been before. It couldn't have been an act, and that was what confused her the most about his sudden betrayal. Whenever she closed her eyes, when she wasn't seeing Aang lifeless on the cavern floor or falling from the sky, she saw the soft smile Zuko had given her when they had woken up together that morning before she had left for the Eastern Air Temple. It felt like an eternity ago, but had really only been a little over a week. Whatever his feelings for her were, he had been genuinely happy, at least in that moment.

So why had he thrown it all away so quickly? She didn't know if she would ever get the answer, or if it even mattered anymore. What was done was done, and Aang was dead because of it.

* * *

The journey across the sea to the Fire Nation was uneventful. Azula had brought several Dai Li agents with them, which kept Zuko from sneaking down to the prison cells where Rinzen and Iroh were being kept, to Rinzen's relief. She didn't know how she would feel if she saw Zuko again, and she didn't want to deal with the conflicting emotions it would bring. Being on a ship again already reminded her of being captive on Zuko's ship months earlier, when they had first met.

She hardly got a moment to appreciate the fresh air when they docked at a harbor in the Fire Nation before she was ushered into a prison wagon separate from Iroh. He was headed straight to the prison while Rinzen was to be taken to the royal palace instead. She knew why; Azula had told her the previous day that the Fire Lord wanted to keep her close by rather than with the other prisoners, and she would be spending the rest of her life imprisoned beneath the palace.

The trees weren't as leafy and the grass hardly seemed to grow in the Fire Nation, the landscape composed of dull browns and reds as Rinzen looked out the tiny window of the prison wagon and watched the fields roll by. The air was warmer, too, and sticky with the humidity of the end of spring and beginning of summer. Farmers and villagers stopped to watch the royal procession enter the capital city, the carriages ahead holding Azula, Zuko, Mai, and Ty Lee while the prison wagons holding Rinzen and Iroh separately held up the rear of the procession.

People stopped in the streets to stare at the carriages, pointing to Rinzen through the tiny window, and she ducked out of sight, although she wanted to keep looking out at the capital city. The smells of spices and cooked meat from food stalls on the streets wafted in and she instinctively wrinkled her nose to try and block it out until they reached the courtyard of the palace. It was both eerily similar to the wide structure of the palace in Ba Sing Se and yet so different at the same time. While everything had been in shades of tan and green in the Earth Kingdom, the Fire Nation palace was all red and black and trimmed with gold, looking far more menacing with the spiky towers and arched doorways.

Rinzen was shoved out of the prison wagon by a guard and pushed towards the main steps of the palace. She did her best to not peek at Zuko when he climbed out of the carriage in front of her, but failed miserably when she caught him faltering slightly out of the corner of her eye. She glanced over her shoulder, unable to help herself, and found him staring at her, his eyes wide like he was seeing a ghost. Then again, she had been imprisoned for almost two weeks in the dark, and her skin was so pale that she probably did look like a ghost to him. He, on the other hand, seemed to look more alive than he ever had, dressed in robes of dark red and gold and his hair long enough that it was pulled back in a topknot. A small crown in the shape of a flame was nestled in the topknot and, for the first time since Rinzen had met him, he looked like the regal prince that he was.

The moment vanished as Azula stepped out of the carriage after Zuko, her lips curving into an automatic sneer at Rinzen, who scowled back at her. Unable to look at Zuko anymore when Azula was right at his side, Rinzen turned her head away again, focusing on her feet and forcing them to move up the stairs of the palace. She was led down the hallways of the palace, trying not to bother looking around at the lavish dark red interior and the priceless vases and artifacts surrounding her. None of that mattered when she would be spending the rest of her life imprisoned beneath all of it anyway.

She was led to a large ornate golden door and Azula shoved past her to enter the room, making sure to knock her shoulder into Rinzen's as hard as she could as she passed. Rinzen was tempted to stick her foot out and trip Azula, but resisted the urge as Zuko passed by her next, glancing over his shoulder briefly at her with an unreadable expression on her face before focusing on the room ahead of him, pressing his lips together firmly as he slipped inside. Rinzen caught a peek of the massive throne room inside and a shadowy figure sitting behind a wall of flames hidden from view. As she registered what she was looking at, she realized she was about to meet the Fire Lord. Dread and fear settled into her stomach as she clenched her fists behind her back, wishing she could somehow airbend and escape with her hands bound.

Before she could even wrap her head around what was happening, the door was opening again and she was frog-marched inside, stumbling a little over her own feet and then shoved onto her knees against the marble floor, cold despite the roaring fire surrounding the throne room as well as the throne in front of her. Zuko and Azula sat on either side of the throne, Azula's smug smirk firmly in place while Zuko's expression was carefully blank, his fists clenched on his knees. The shadowy figure between them stood, walking easily through the flames, and Rinzen looked up as his face came into view.

Fire Lord Ozai was far less horrifying in appearance than she had always imagined him to be in her head; if anything, he looked like how she imagined Zuko might have looked in several years' time if he didn't have a scar marring the left side of his face. He had a beard and his hair was long enough that it fell to the middle of his back, an elaborate flame-shaped crown nestled in his topknot much like Zuko's crown was.

"I've heard a great deal about you, girl," he spoke at last, and Rinzen was surprised to hear how rough and harsh his voice was despite his relatively young appearance. "How does it feel to know that you are the last airbender in the world?" She clenched her fists behind her back, doing her best not to react to the jab, but Ozai must have seen something in her face that revealed how much it had hurt, because he smirked.

Rinzen now knew where Azula had gotten that infuriating expression from as she let her temper get the better of her. "Yeah, well, how does it feel to know that millions of people's blood are on your hands?" she snapped back and almost instantly, Ozai's amused expression morphed into one of rage.

"Insolent girl!" He raised a hand, clearly about to strike her. Reacting instinctively, Rinzen took a deep breath and blew out a gust of wind as hard as she could, shoving Ozai back across the marble floor as he collided with the raised dais of the throne. His hair fell into his face as Azula rushed from the dais down to help him up and he shoved the messy strands out of his reddened face, shaking with anger. "Get her out of my sight and make sure she never sees daylight again!" he shouted at the guard holding Rinzen, who dragged her quickly out of the throne room. Before the door shut behind her, she caught a glimpse of Zuko's shocked and bewildered expression as he climbed down from the dais to help his father to his feet.

* * *

"Why would you _do_ that?!" Zuko burst through the door as Rinzen started, having not expected the sudden intrusion as she sat up from where she was laying on the dirt floor. It had been hours since she had been dragged below the palace and tossed into the cell she would be spending the rest of her life in, and she presumed it was past dark by now, which was why Zuko must have felt it safe enough to sneak down to see her.

"What, knock your dad off his feet?" she deadpanned. "Well, for one, it was funny. And second…" She made a show of thinking, mildly entertained by the look of frustration on Zuko's face and how disheveled he looked, with his hair no longer in its neat topknot and instead hanging messily over his forehead and eyes. "Actually, no, that was it. It was just funny." She shrugged one shoulder.

"He could've killed you!" Zuko protested.

"Well, what about you?" she pointed out dryly. "Aren't you gonna get in trouble for coming down here? The guard's gonna tell on you." She nodded to the guard standing just outside the cell.

"Who, Sora?" Zuko glanced over his shoulder at the guard, waving slightly, and to Rinzen's surprise, Sora waved back, removing his faceplate to grin at them. He was surprisingly young, about Rinzen's and Zuko's age, with bright golden eyes and a crooked smile that would have made any other girl's heart flutter. "I've known Sora practically my whole life, we went to school together," Zuko explained as he turned back to Rinzen. "It's why I made sure he'd be the one assigned to guard you. He's not going to tell anyone I'm here."

"You couldn't pay me nearly enough to talk to your crazy sister willingly," Sora grumbled goodnaturedly from the hallway, causing Zuko to shake his head fondly, a small smile tugging at his lips. "Did you seriously knock the Fire Lord on his butt?" Sora added curiously as he turned his attention on Rinzen, the first time he had ever spoken to her since he had taken post outside her cell, and she nodded tentatively.

"Uh, yeah. I did."

"Cool, we're cool, then." He gave her a thumbs-up and she managed a tiny smile back at him. Maybe spending the rest of her life imprisoned wouldn't be so bad if her guard was at least kind to her.

"It's not funny," Zuko insisted, giving Sora a pointed glare before turning his frown on Rinzen. "Don't upset my father. I mean it."

"You know, telling me what to do is only gonna make me _not_ listen to you," she pointed out wryly. "I don't even know why you're down here at all. I have nothing to say to you."

"You don't understand." He ran a hand through his hair in exasperation, messing it up even more. "I did what I had to in Ba Sing Se. And now I've got my honor back. My father actually wants me at his side."

Rinzen wanted to protest that he had never needed to regain his honor in the first place, but the raw longing in his voice made the words in her throat disappear before they could come out. She dropped her gaze to the ground instead, biting her lip hard.

"You have to understand," Zuko repeated weakly, sounding far less sure of himself than he had even a moment ago.

"My brother's dead because of you," she managed to say at last, keeping her eyes fixed on the ground so that he wouldn't see the tears welling in them. "Understanding why you did what you did won't bring him back."

She heard Zuko swallow hard before he knelt in front of the bars, pushing something through them. She blinked back the tears in her eyes before looking up to find that it was a soft dark red blanket.

"I thought it would help," he said quietly. "If it gets cold."

"Airbenders can warm themselves with just their breathing," she answered stiffly, shoving the blanket back through the bars at him. "Or rather, I guess only I can, since, y'know. Last airbender in the world and all."

He winced at the implied accusation. "Keep it anyway." He pushed the blanket back through the bars and she didn't bother shoving it back, no matter how much she wanted to. "Just in case." He got to his feet, leaving the small prison cell and shutting the door behind himself, and Rinzen made sure not to touch the blanket until he was long gone before finally unfolding the blanket and sliding it around her shoulders. It was softer than she thought it would be, almost as soft as Appa's fur, and it smelled like smoke and incense - like Zuko. She pulled it further around herself to try and envelop herself in the scent.

"Thought airbenders could warm themselves with just their breathing," Sora said curiously as he peeked through the small window in the door.

"Where'd you hear that nonsense?" she asked innocently and he grinned.

"Relax, your secret's safe with me." He winked at her before returning to his post outside her cell. "I'll let you know if anybody's coming so you can fold it up and hide it."

"Thanks, Sora." Rinzen wished that it hadn't been because of Zuko that she had such a nice guard, because she hardly wanted to be indebted to Zuko after what he had done. She settled on the hard ground, the blanket acting as a cushion as she slowly allowed herself to drift off into an uneasy sleep, prepared to spend the rest of her life like this.

* * *

 **Can you tell I've been playing too much Kingdom Hearts? lol**

 **Honestly, I chose Sora as the guard's name because his name is actually Japanese for "sky" - or so Google says - and I thought it'd be fitting for him to get along with an airbender if he had a name associated with air.**

 **I know I've been saying this for the past few chapters, but this entire plot point is the one I've really been looking forward to writing, so I hope I can crank out more chapters like this, but work is definitely going to be getting in the way for some time. I'll do my best to keep writing in the evenings, though!**

 **I hope you enjoy!**


	10. The Day of Black Sun

**Chapter 10: The Day of Black Sun**

* * *

A sharp tap on Rinzen's door made her start before quickly folding up the blanket Zuko had given her and wriggling out the loose brick in her cell to shove the blanket inside. She and Sora had developed a system over the few weeks she had been imprisoned so far; if he knocked once, it meant that someone untrustworthy was coming and she had to hide the blanket entirely out of sight, and if he knocked twice, then Zuko was the one approaching her cell and she only had to fold it neatly and place it on the ground to pretend she hadn't touched it. However, Sora only had the evening and night shifts watching over her, which meant that she had to hide the blanket throughout the day while her morning and afternoon guard, whose name she didn't know, stood outside her cell.

Zuko had snuck down to visit her a few times since she had been imprisoned, trying repeatedly to convince her that he had done what was right, but she had turned her back on him pointedly every time until he had lost his temper at her unresponsiveness and left again, slamming the door shut behind him. She had made how she felt towards him clear enough that she didn't feel the need to speak to him anymore.

"Just delivering food to the prisoner," a rough voice said outside, startling her back to the present, and Sora opened the door for the guard to enter with a metal tray containing a wooden bowl of plain rice and a tin cup of water. He dropped the tray on the floor in front of the cell unceremoniously, sneering at Rinzen and earning a glare from her in return before turning on his heel and leaving again.

Sora wrinkled his nose when he noticed the spilled grains of rice on the ground as Rinzen pulled the tray into the cell carefully. "They really ought to be more considerate," he complained once the guard was out of earshot and Rinzen shrugged one shoulder as she picked up the bowl of rice and the pair of chopsticks to start eating quietly. She didn't talk much to Sora, as much as she appreciated how kind he was to her; she didn't know exactly what he reported back to Zuko and that left her still a little wary of him. When she noticed him lingering in the doorway, she looked up from her food and raised an eyebrow silently at him. He flushed slightly at having been caught and blurted out, "Sorry, it's just...I've been wondering about your arrow tattoos for a while now. What are they for?"

She was painfully reminded of all those months ago when Zuko had asked her the same thing on his ship. "They're marks of mastery," she answered Sora, dropping her gaze again and fiddling with her chopsticks to pick up a few stray grains of rice at the bottom of the bowl. "All airbenders got them when they mastered several forms and then invented their own move." Even talking about it now hurt more than it had then, when Aang had still been alive. Even if Rinzen had her freedom, she couldn't begin to carry on Air Nomad traditions when she had hardly known anything about them beyond the bare essentials. She had never been raised with that purpose, like all the other monks had been.

"What move did you invent?" The genuine curiosity in Sora's voice only made her heart ache just a little more for the loss of her people.

"It's nothing all that special." She set the empty bowl down on the tray, gulping down the cup of water. "It's actually a trick I used to do with my glider, where I could fly upside-down and hold on with my feet."

"That's so cool." Sora looked somewhat forlorn, though. "I wish I could've seen it."

"What're you so fascinated with airbender culture for, anyway?" she asked as she set the tray back outside the bars of her cell.

He shrugged mildly. "I mean, it's not like I ever met an airbender before you, not even the Avatar." Rinzen clenched her jaw instinctively at the mention of Aang, dropping her gaze deliberately away from Sora as she silently focused on wriggling the loose brick out of the wall and retrieving her blanket from the nook inside. "Sorry," Sora said after a moment. "I've got a little brother, too. I know what that's like."

"Do you?" Rinzen answered stiffly, pulling the blanket around her shoulders to ward off the night chill of the underground prison. "Your brother's still alive. Mine isn't."

Sora winced slightly even as he glanced out into the hallway warily before taking a few steps forward and then sitting down in front of Rinzen's cell. "What was he like?"

She looked up at him, fiddling with the ends of her blanket nervously. "Why do you want to know?" She was unsure what to make of the curious, sympathetic expression on his face.

"Well, he was the Avatar, you can't blame me for wondering. Did he have arrow tattoos, too?"

Rinzen bit her lip before nodding. "Yeah. He was the youngest airbending master in history. Got his tattoos at ten. He invented the air scooter, a ball of air you could balance on and ride around." She had only meant to give Sora a brief answer, but the moment she started talking, the details spilled out of her before she could stop herself. It was as if all her grief over Aang had been bottled up so long that it was starting to burst out like water through an overfilled dam. "He used to ride that stupid air scooter around all the time once he figured out how to do it and it drove me crazy. He taught all the other kids at our temple to do it, too, but I could never get the hang of it no matter how patiently he taught me. I'd always keep falling off. One time, I lost my temper over it and snapped at him and I made him cry. I felt guilty for a long time after that."

"You made the Avatar cry?" Sora raised an eyebrow, grinning slightly, but Rinzen didn't feel much like returning the smile or even rolling her eyes in response.

"I don't even think I ever really apologized to him for snapping." She dropped her gaze to her hands, twisted together helplessly in her lap. "He must've really thought I hated him for a while."

"I'm sure he didn't," Sora said quietly after several moments. "He must've known you loved him."

"I never told him I did, though." She blinked back the burning tears in her eyes, not wanting Sora to see her cry. "Not once."

"He'd've known, anyway. As long as you showed it in your actions, that's what matters." Sora reached through the bars, placing his hand over hers to squeeze it lightly, and she forced herself to exhale quietly and then look back up at him, plastering a tiny smile on her face. It hadn't made her feel that much better, but she didn't want him to feel bad. Thankfully, his touch didn't linger for long as he drew his hand back.

"Thanks."

"Anytime." He gave her a small smile in return and climbed to his feet, retreating back into the hallway. "I'll let you know if Zuko's on his way." He shut the door quietly behind himself and she took the opportunity to turn away from the door so that he couldn't see the hot tears starting to roll down her cheeks through the small window.

* * *

In the middle of the night a few days later, Rinzen was startled awake by swift footsteps approaching her cell. To her relief, Sora tapped on the door twice before opening it, giving her time to fold her blanket and place it as far from her as possible. Zuko slipped into the room, automatically glancing at the corner where her blanket was folded and pressing his lips together firmly, but said nothing about it as he pulled down the hood of the black cloak he wore.

"What do you want now?" Rinzen demanded wearily, scrubbing a hand over her face to make herself a little more alert before dropping her gaze to the hem of her shirt to fiddle with a loose thread, not wanting to look Zuko in the eye. "I told you a million times already, I've got nothing to say to you."

"Your brother's alive."

She froze, the loose thread from her shirt tangled in her fingers, before forcing a huff of laughter. It sounded humorless and dead even to her own ears. "That's very funny."

"He _is_ ," he insisted, sounding frustrated.

"You were there, you saw what happened to him. No one could've survived that," she pointed out.

"Your friend, Katara. She had a vial of water from the Spirit Oasis in the North Pole." Rinzen suddenly remembered the little vial that Katara had always kept around her neck, hidden under the neckline of her dress. "The water had special healing properties. She told me so herself." Zuko knelt in front of her cell until he was eye-level with her. "She had to have used it to save Aang."

Rinzen had never heard him use Aang's name before, and she finally dared to peek up at him to find him clutching the bars, staring at her desperately as if imploring her to believe him. "How do you know for sure?" she asked, her voice cracking slightly as, despite herself, hope settled inside her like a warm glow after what felt like an eternity on ice, even though it had only been a little more than a month since what had happened in Ba Sing Se.

He suddenly looked sheepish. "I kind of, maybe, sort of hired an assassin to track him down. Not to kill him!" he hurried to add, noticing her outraged expression as she opened her mouth to yell at him. She shut her mouth again, glaring at him pointedly until he offered up an explanation, "I only hired him to discreetly report back to me on Aang's location. They're here in the Fire Nation, traveling between the outlying villages."

"They're here," she echoed slowly, sitting back again as she took the information in. The chains rattled around her wrists with the movement, reminding her of her current situation. "So why're you telling me, anyway? Figured you wouldn't want me knowing any of this."

"Maybe my father and sister wouldn't if they knew, but, well." Zuko grimaced slightly. "I didn't want you thinking he was dead."

"Why does it matter to you?" Rinzen demanded, frowning now.

"It just _does_ ," he answered, sounding frustrated again as he ran a hand through his hair agitatedly and dropped his gaze away from her. "For a long time, I thought that if I made my father proud, I'd be happy, and I'd stop being so angry all the time. But I didn't. I was angrier than ever and I didn't know why."

Rinzen bit her lip hard. "Were you mad at me?" The question came out smaller than she had meant it to and she didn't know why the idea of Zuko being angry at her hurt so much.

"Of course not," he answered immediately as he looked up, his expression softening as his eyes met hers. "It was never you. I just...I didn't know what was right and what was wrong anymore."

"And you do now?" she asked skeptically and, for the first time in what felt like forever, he gave her a tiny smile. Her heart leapt into her throat.

"I'm starting to," he admitted quietly.

She dropped her eyes to the floor of her cell, not wanting him to see just how much his smile had affected her. "So what now? It's not like any of that matters anymore."

He hesitated, chewing his lip in thought. "Well, not exactly. Azula knows about the solar eclipse in a few weeks. And your friends' invasion plan. Which is good."

"In what world is that _good_?" she demanded, gaping at him in bewilderment.

"It means that she and my father will be focused on staying safe while their bending is gone," he explained. "Which means that could be our chance."

"Our chance?" she echoed, confused.

"To break you and my uncle out." Even as he said it, she could see the plan forming in his head as his expression set with determination. "I'm going to get you back to your brother on the Day of Black Sun. I promise."

Rinzen stared at him for a moment before huffing a bitter laugh. "No offense, but you've made promises before and they haven't exactly panned out."

He grimaced a little. "Okay, maybe I deserved that, but I mean it, Rin."

"Well, until it happens, I'm not gonna hold my breath." Seeing the look of hurt that flashed across his face, she managed a small, sad smile and a helpless shrug. "Sorry."

She half-expected him to change his mind about helping her on the spot, but to her surprise, he shook his head. "No, you're right. I already broke your trust once, but it won't happen this time." He reached through the bars and she reluctantly let him take her hand, unsure how to react to his warm fingers lacing with her cold ones. "The last thing I want is to hurt you again."

"What about Mai?" she blurted out before she could stop herself, drawing her hand back again so quickly that the chain on her wrist rattled loudly, and he frowned slightly. "Even if this does work, you'll be a fugitive from the Fire Nation for helping me and your uncle escape," she explained. "It's going to destroy your relationship with her."

"We already broke up." The revelation shocked Rinzen into silence as Zuko added with a small, wry smile, "Things were complicated, and neither of us felt the same way we used to for each other."

"Oh." She wasn't sure how else to respond, but felt guilty for the instinctive flash of relief that went through her at the idea of Mai and Zuko no longer together.

"I should get back," Zuko said, startling her out of her thoughts as he climbed to his feet. "I'll let you know the plan soon."

Rinzen didn't want to repeat that she didn't expect anything, not wanting to see the look of hurt on his face again, so she just nodded in response. "Okay."

She watched him pull the hood of his cloak back over his head before slipping out of the cell, closing the door behind himself, and waited until his footsteps retreated down the hallway before she retrieved her blanket from the corner of the cell to wrap it around herself again. She didn't think she'd find sleep again, her mind still reeling from everything that had just happened, but she found a little more comfort than she normally did in the blanket around her shoulders.

* * *

"There's been a complication," Sora admitted two weeks later as he placed a tray containing a bowl of rice and a cup of water in front of Rinzen's cell. He had taken to delivering her food to her after he had seen how rough and careless the other guards were, which Rinzen appreciated since he didn't glare at her like every other guard did.

"A complication?" she echoed, bewildered.

"With Zuko's plan," he clarified under his breath as he knelt down in front of her cell, glancing over his shoulder to make sure the other guard who had delivered Rinzen's food had disappeared down the hallway. "On the Day of Black Sun, I'm supposed to take you to another chamber here in the bunker."

"I don't see the complication in that," she pointed out wryly as she tugged the tray through the bars of the cell.

"The Fire Lord specifically ordered that you be brought to the same chamber as him until the eclipse is over," Sora said, grimacing slightly, and Rinzen nearly dropped the bowl of rice in her hands. She had thankfully avoided Fire Lord Ozai and Azula since the day she had first arrived in the Fire Nation, but whatever little hope she had of Zuko's plan working disappeared at the news. "He didn't want your friends finding you during the invasion."

Rinzen set her food down again, no longer hungry as she rubbed her hand over her face. "Great. So what now?"

"Don't worry, we're working on an alternative," Sora reassured her. "I'm gonna be the one escorting you to the Fire Lord that day and Zuko will come get you once the eclipse starts." Seeing the skepticism on Rinzen's face, he insisted, "He'll come for you."

"No offense, Sora, but he's already broken enough promises to me by now that I don't see any point in believing that," she answered, looking away from Sora's earnest expression.

"You know he's in love with you, right?" Her head jerked up as if of its own volition as she gaped at Sora. "I mean, it's kind of obvious," he added, shrugging one shoulder.

"Yeah, because getting my brother almost killed really means he loves me," she deadpanned, managing to stamp down the immediate shock just enough to respond.

"I'm just saying, I've known him practically our whole lives," he pointed out. "And I've never seen him the way he is around you. So that's gotta count for something."

"I guess," she muttered as she dropped her gaze again to the bowl of rice in front of her, not wanting to start another argument on the subject.

"Look, you don't have to forgive him for what happened. I know I definitely wouldn't right away if I were in your shoes." Sora climbed to his feet, dusting himself off. "But for what it's worth, I really think he means it this time."

"I guess we'll see in a couple weeks," she said reluctantly, unsure how else to answer him. As he slipped out of the cell, she fiddled with the chopsticks on her tray of food, unsure how to wrap her head around the new information she had been given.

In love with her? She could hardly understand why he had even wanted to be friends with her before, much less how he could be in love with her. Even the idea of that kind of love seemed foreign to her. She did her best to put it out of her mind, deciding it was better to focus on escaping on the day of the solar eclipse first.

Zuko, and whatever confusing emotions he brought with him, would have to wait.

* * *

Rinzen awoke early on the day of the solar eclipse, her heart still pounding from her nightmare. It seemed she had hardly gone a single night without nightmares since Ba Sing Se, and she rubbed her eyes hard to try and rid herself of the vision of Aang falling from the sky, limp and lifeless. Even if what Zuko had said was true, and Aang was indeed still alive, she couldn't erase the image from her mind no matter how hard she tried. Even without a window in her cell, she could tell that it was so early that the the sun hadn't even risen yet, but she couldn't bring herself to close her eyes and attempt sleep again, nerves gnawing at her irritatingly and keeping her on high alert.

Sora opened her cell a few hours later, his faceplate missing so that she could see the grim expression he wore. The guard who normally took the morning and afternoon shifts stood just behind him, silent as usual.

"Time to go," Sora said and Rinzen was taken aback by how stiff and formal he sounded. He unlocked her cell with a key hanging from his belt before undoing her chains so that only the cuffs remained around her wrists, ushering her to her feet and leading her out of the cell into the darkened corridor of the underground bunker. Once they were out of earshot of the other guard, Sora relaxed and squeezed Rinzen's arm just above the manacle on her wrist reassuringly. "The eclipse lasts about eight minutes," he told her under his breath, "Zuko's gonna come for you the moment it starts, and you're gonna slip him this." He pressed a small, metal object into Rinzen's right hand and she grasped it blindly, making sure it was hidden by her fist.

"What is it?" she asked, stumbling a little over a stone in their path, and Sora steadied her easily.

"The key to your cuffs," he clarified. "He'll free you and then you're both gonna get out before the eclipse is over."

"What about the Fire Lord?" she pointed out, glancing briefly over her shoulder just in time to catch sight of the grimace on Sora's face.

"Well, he'll have guards, but knowing him, he'll dismiss them the moment Zuko says he wants to talk alone with him. The Fire Lord's nothing if not arrogant."

Rinzen frowned a little at the sudden bitterness in Sora's voice. "That's awfully bold of you to say."

He shrugged slightly. "He stopped being my Fire Lord a long time ago." He hesitated. "My dad was in the army, y'know. Got killed on the front lines four years ago."

Rinzen felt a pang of sympathy for him. "I'm sorry."

He gave her a small, sad smile back. "Thanks." He nudged her to turn right into another hallway that was a little more brightly-lit than the one her cell had been in. "His division was the one Zuko argued for protecting, when he spoke out in that war meeting," he admitted after a moment.

"The one that caused his father to challenge him to an Agni Kai?" Rinzen asked, surprised, and Sora nodded.

"Yeah. He didn't know at the time that my dad was in that division, but it still meant a lot to me that he tried to help." He fell silent as they reached a large door that was eerily reminiscent of the ornate throne room door. "This is it. Make sure he doesn't see the key."

"I will," she agreed, instinctively tightening her hold on the key, and he knocked briefly on the door before opening it and ushering her inside.

Fire Lord Ozai was already seated on an elaborate gold throne inside the large chamber, sipping a cup of steaming tea and looking annoyed - probably because he was being forced to hide underground in the first place. Several guards stood around the chamber, at attention and silent, and Rinzen couldn't help but feel a chill race down her spine at how eerie the scene in front of her was. Ozai looked up from his cup of tea, nodding briefly to Sora in acknowledgment, before gesturing to a raised dais on the far side of the room. Sora led Rinzen there before nudging her down onto her knees a little more gently than any other guard would have and then chaining her cuffs down to the dais so that she couldn't move off it. He subtly squeezed her arm one last time before executing a quick, stiff bow to Ozai and then slipping out of the chamber silently.

To Rinzen's relief, Ozai didn't seem interested in even acknowledging her presence, although the wary looks he kept shooting her gave her a bit of reassurance that it was probably so that there wasn't a repeat of the last time they had met and she had blown him back against his own throne. She kept a tight hold of the key in her hand, hoping that it was hidden well enough that no one could see it. Even if Zuko didn't come, she could attempt to unlock her own cuffs during the eclipse and make her escape while Ozai and his guards were powerless.

A chill seemed to descend around the room as the eclipse began, the guards shifting uncomfortably while Ozai tightened his hold on his cup of tea, his expression colder and more irritable now that he was almost entirely defenseless. Rinzen tensed as she fiddled subtly with the key, trying to turn it around to unlock the cuffs around her wrists. There was no way Zuko would come for her, she told herself. She had to get herself out of her restraints somehow.

The doors opened suddenly and she looked up, surprised at the relief that flooded through her when she saw Zuko entering the chamber. His broadswords were strapped to his back, his fists clenched and his expression set in determination. He glanced briefly in Rinzen's direction and she managed a tiny nod back at him, not wanting him to see just how glad she was to see him.

Ozai raised an eyebrow in mild surprise. "Prince Zuko. Why are you here?"

"I'm here to tell the truth," Zuko answered, setting his jaw.

"Telling the truth during a solar eclipse," Ozai mused dryly. "This should be interesting." To Rinzen's surprise, he gestured for the guards to leave. They silently filed out of the room and the doors closed behind them.

"First of all, it was Azula who took down the Avatar in Ba Sing Se, not me," Zuko said and Ozai raised an eyebrow again.

"Now why would she lie to me about that?"

"Because the Avatar's not dead, he survived," Zuko answered and Ozai's expression shifted into shock and anger.

" _What_?!"

"He's probably out there leading that invasion. He could be on his way here right now," Zuko added and Ozai tossed the cup in his hand aside, pointing furiously at the door.

" _Get out_! Get out of my sight right now if you know what's good for you!"

"That's another thing," Zuko said, scowling now. "I'm not taking orders from you anymore."

"You will obey me or this defiant breath will be your last!" Ozai snarled, but Zuko pulled out his broadswords in a swift movement.

"Think again. I am going to speak my mind and you are going to _listen_." Ozai's expression shifted between anger and resentment as he reluctantly took a seat on his throne again, his lips pursing further as Zuko sheathed his swords again and began to cross the chamber to the dais where Rinzen was chained. "For so long, I wanted you to love and accept me," he spoke as he walked, Ozai watching him grudgingly. "I thought it was my honor I wanted, but really, I was just trying to please you. You, my father, who banished me just for talking out of turn. My father, who challenged me, a thirteen-year-old boy, to an Agni Kai. How could you justify a duel with a child?" He knelt beside Rinzen, who dropped the key she was clutching into his hand, and unlocked her cuffs.

"It was to teach you respect," Ozai snapped as Zuko helped Rinzen to her feet.

"It was cruel, and it was wrong!" Zuko retorted.

"Then you've learned nothing," Ozai said coldly.

"No, I've learned _everything_. And I've had to learn it on my own." Zuko slipped his hand into Rinzen's, clutching it tightly, and she let her fingers lace with his, watching how Ozai's eyes dropped to their intertwined hands and narrowed slightly. "Growing up, we were taught that the Fire Nation was the greatest civilization in history. And somehow, the war was our way of sharing our greatness with the rest of the world," Zuko added with a bitter smile. "What an amazing lie that was. The people of the world are terrified by the Fire Nation. They don't see our greatness. They hate us, and we deserve it. We've created an era of fear in the world. And if we don't want the world to destroy itself, we need to replace it with an era of peace and kindness."

Ozai laughed at that harshly. "Your uncle has gotten to you."

"Yes. He has. And so has _she_." Rinzen looked up to see Zuko gazing back at her, a small smile on his face. She managed a tiny smile back as she squeezed his hand and his smile widened slightly before he looked back up at Ozai. "After I leave here, I'm going to free Uncle Iroh from his prison and beg his forgiveness. He's the one who's been a real father to me."

Ozai laughed again at that, rolling his eyes. "Oh, that's just beautiful. Maybe he can pass down to you the ways of tea and failure."

"But I've come to an even more important decision," Zuko added, hesitating for a moment before taking a deep breath and plunging ahead. "I'm going to join the Avatar and I'm going to help him defeat you."

That was news to Rinzen, who stared up at Zuko in shock, but Ozai only scoffed slightly. "Really? Since you're a full-blown traitor now and you want me gone, why wait? I'm powerless. You've got your swords. Why don't you just do it now?" he taunted.

"Because I know my own destiny. Taking you down is the Avatar's destiny." Zuko squeezed Rinzen's hand again gently before turning his back on Ozai. "Goodbye."

Rinzen turned to follow him out the door, still a little shaken by his decision to join them, but Ozai's furious voice behind them shattered through her surprise. "Coward! You think you're brave enough to face me, but you'll only do it during the eclipse. If you have any real courage, you'll stick around until the sun comes out." He paused for a moment before offering tauntingly, "Don't you want to know what happened to your mother?"

Zuko stopped in his tracks, his hand tightening around Rinzen's, and she squeezed his hand back, cautioning quietly, "He's just trying to waste your time."

He bit his lip before wheeling around to face Ozai again reluctantly. "What happened that night?"

Ozai tilted his head consideringly, drawing out the words just as Rinzen suspected he would do. "My father, Fire Lord Azulon, had commanded me to do the unthinkable to you, my own son, and I was going to do it." The expression on Zuko's face, shocked and hurt like he had been punched in the stomach, made Rinzen press in closer to his side instinctively. "Your mother found out and swore she would protect you at any cost. She knew I wanted the throne and she proposed a plan, a plan in which I would become Fire Lord and your life would be spared." Ozai smirked slightly at the memory. "Your mother did some treacherous things that night. She knew the consequences and accepted them. For her treason, she was banished."

Rinzen doubted Ozai was telling the truth, but Zuko's voice cracked slightly as he asked quietly, "So she's alive?"

"Perhaps," Ozai drawled casually, closing his eyes. "Now I see, however, that banishment is far too merciful a penalty for treason. Your penalty will be far steeper."

The air in the chamber seemed to shift slightly, the hairs on the back of Rinzen's neck standing on end, and Zuko suddenly tore his hand from hers, shoving her behind him as Ozai leapt to his feet and shot a bolt of lightning at them. Rinzen clutched at the back of Zuko's shirt, bracing herself for the impact, but he moved just as quickly to redirect the lightning fluidly in a way she had never seen lightning being bent before, sending the bolt back at the spot right in front of Ozai. It exploded as it connected with the ground and Ozai slammed into the back wall of the chamber from the force of the explosion, a cloud of smoke obscuring him from view. Zuko grabbed Rinzen's hand again and broke into a run as she stumbled slightly over her feet before falling into step with him. They didn't stop running until they ducked into a hidden passage in the wall that contained a staircase leading up and out of the bunker.

"Don't say you told me so, I know you did," Zuko blurted out breathlessly even as Rinzen opened her mouth. "I just had to know."

"I was just gonna ask where your uncle was," she pointed out dryly as she caught her breath. "But now that you mention it, I _did_ tell you so."

"Oh." He flushed slightly as they began to climb the stairs quickly, glancing over his shoulder to make sure they weren't being followed. "He's in the prison just outside the palace. Hopefully, the guards were dispersed by the rest of the invasion."

"What happened with the invasion?" she asked, realizing she had hardly heard anything about it so far.

Zuko grimaced. "They got past most of the army before the eclipse started, but I haven't heard anything about your brother or your friends. Now that the eclipse is over, though, they don't have much of a chance other than retreating."

"I figured as much." She winced as the bright sunlight hit her when Zuko led her out of the passage into the courtyard of the palace, squinting slightly until her vision adjusted to the sudden influx of light. "You got a plan for getting out of here?"

"I've got a war balloon ready," he reassured her. "It won't draw attention since everyone else is using them, too. Once we get my uncle, we can use it to get out and find your brother and the others." He tugged her hand to lead her out of the courtyard, breaking into a run again as the prison tower came into view. Rinzen followed him up the stairs quickly, taking in the unconscious guards slumped against the walls as they passed and wondering if the invasion had been through the prison tower. "Uncle!" Zuko called as they reached the top floor, stopping outside an open cell door, and Rinzen gaped at the mangled mess of metal in front of them.

"What happened here?" she said, bewildered, and Zuko released her hand to enter the room, grabbing the half-conscious guard to haul him upright.

"Where is my uncle?" he demanded angrily.

"He's gone. He busted himself out. I've never seen anything like it, he was like a one-man army," the guard answered, sounding half-dazed and stunned at what he had witnessed. Zuko dropped the man again, his expression worried as he glanced around for any sign of his uncle, and Rinzen slipped her hand back into his.

"Wherever he is, he's long gone now," she pointed out as he looked back down at her. "We need to move." Exhaling in frustration for a moment, he nodded reluctantly and let her pull him out of the cell and back into the hallway of the prison.

"The war balloons and airships are behind the palace," he said as they hurried down the staircase and out into the palace courtyard again. "If we can get there without being spotted, we can take off from there in the one I've prepared and see if we can spot Appa."

"He's pretty hard to miss," Rinzen agreed dryly. They ducked behind a wall as a group of guards rushed past, clearly on their way to the airships as well, and waited until they were out of sight before hurrying after them. They came upon a row of dark orange war balloons with the Fire Nation emblem painted on the sides, already inflated and ready for takeoff, and Zuko led her down the row until they came across one with a bag inside.

"This is the one." He untied the rope anchoring the balloon to the ground and climbed into the basket, helping her inside next, before opening the metal grate in the center compartment and pushing a blast of fire into it. The balloon swelled a little more, lifting off the ground, and Rinzen gripped the side of the basket to keep herself steady as it wobbled slightly.

"You sure you know how to fly this thing?" she asked skeptically.

"We'll be fine," he reassured her, pushing another flame into the metal grate so that the balloon gained more height and nudging a lever to start guiding it forward. Rinzen made her way to the front of the basket slowly, watching the ground drift further and further away, and focused on the destruction of the Fire Nation capital in front of her. Smoke rose from destroyed battlements and towers lining the path to the water's edge, where several ruined submarines were beached. She recognized the colors of the submarines as Water Tribe and hoped that the people who had been inside those submarines were safe.

Suddenly, a large white shape took off from a nook in the rocks near the beach and her heart leapt a little at the familiar sight. "There he is!" She pointed to Appa and Zuko looked up from fanning the flame in the compartment of the balloon, pushing the lever until the nose of the balloon was facing the sky bison.

"Any chance you know where they're headed?"

"The closest place they'll feel safe right now is the Western Air Temple," she admitted. "It seems the most likely, based on the direction they're going."

"Then that's where we're going, too." Zuko glanced over his shoulder at the airships that were hovering ominously in place behind them, but not moving forward. "What I don't understand is why we're not being followed."

"Probably because they know they've won." Rinzen glanced down as they passed over the beach, watching the groups of Water Tribe and Earth Kingdom soldiers being arrested below. "Most of the invasion force is being taken in. I'll bet the only ones left are on Appa right now." She hoped that Aang, Katara, Sokka, and Toph were at least safe, but worried that she would arrive at the Western Air Temple to find one or more of them missing.

The sound of the metal grate shutting quietly behind her startled her out of her thoughts as Zuko approached her, his hand resting on her shoulder gently. "We'll find them," he reassured her.

She nodded, reaching up to place her hand over his and squeeze his fingers in return. "I know. And we'll find your uncle, too."

He managed a small smile at that and they turned to face forward again, watching Appa soar towards the horizon.

* * *

 **Yay, I actually managed to write a longer chapter!**

 **It does feel a bit rushed for me, but honestly, I just wanted to get it out before writer's block descended on me again. (Also work has been keeping me really busy and I didn't want to risk losing the chance to finish up this chapter before I had to start traveling this week.)**

 **I hope you enjoy it!**


	11. The Western Air Temple

**Chapter 11: The Western Air Temple**

* * *

It had been awkwardly silent once they had cleared the capital area and were left with nothing but clouds and rolling farmlands to keep their attention, and Rinzen found herself taking a seat inside the basket while Zuko focused on keeping the balloon afloat.

"Did you mean it?" she asked quietly, breaking the silence, and he started slightly at the sound of her voice, glancing back at her. "About joining us?"

"Yeah, I did," he admitted, closing the metal grate of the center compartment. "I know none of you really have much of a reason to trust me. But I wanted to at least offer to be Aang's firebending teacher."

She rubbed a hand over her face, exhaling slowly. "Don't get me wrong, I really appreciate the sentiment, but it's not going to be easy to convince them to let you in, even if I vouch for you."

"I know. But I owe it to you to try." The earnestness in his expression was overwhelming and she dropped her gaze away from him, unsure what to make of the situation.

"And what'll happen if they say no?" she pointed out.

He exhaled quietly. "I don't know. I'll start looking for my uncle, I guess. Not much else I can do." He paused. "You don't have to vouch for me, you know."

"I owe you for getting me out," she reminded him.

"That's part of me making up for putting you there in the first place," he argued. "That doesn't count."

"We're keeping score now?"

"My point is that you don't owe me anything," he insisted.

"Really?" She crossed her arms. "So you freed me just out of the goodness of your heart?"

"I freed you because I care about you!" Zuko flushed slightly, running a hand through his hair awkwardly when he noticed Rinzen staring at him in surprise. "I mean. Mainly because it was the right thing to do. But also because of that."

"You - what?" she managed to get out, bewildered.

"What did you think all of that in Ba Sing Se was?" he pointed out, frowning now.

"You mean right up until you betrayed us?" she deadpanned.

"Would you stop with the sarcasm for five minutes?" he sighed heavily. "I get that you're hurt, but I'm trying to be sincere here."

"Yeah, well, I thought you were being sincere before, too, and look where that got us," she retorted, but was startled when he knelt in front of her, his hand reaching up to press gently against her cheek. She did her best not to lean into his warm touch, although she was tempted to.

"I know I hurt you, and I'm _sorry_ , Rin. I chose wrong in Ba Sing Se, and I can't begin to make that up to you. But I do care about you." When she realized he was leaning in, she ducked her head slightly so that his kiss landed on her forehead rather than on her lips. Even that felt almost overwhelming, with how close he was and how warm his lips felt against her skin. He drew back, his expression crumpling in hurt and confusion, and she did her best not to meet his eyes, focusing on a point just over his shoulder instead.

"I'm not gonna say I don't feel the same way," she said quietly. "Because I do, and I don't know how to feel about that with everything that happened. A lot of this is really confusing, and it's not a good idea to start sorting it out in the middle of a war." She bit her lip, waiting for him to pull away or lash out in anger, but after a moment, he nudged her chin up to face him properly. She was relieved to find him smiling faintly back at her.

"It's okay. I get that," he reassured her. "But if you change your mind, then I'll be here." He hesitated. "Can we at least be friends again, though?"

She managed a smile back at him, grateful that he hadn't taken it badly. "Yeah. I'd like that."

He relaxed a little, dropping his hand to lace his fingers with hers. "Me, too." He squeezed her hand briefly before getting to his feet to check on the flames in the center compartment again. "We're almost at the Western Air Temple."

"So what's the plan? We just stroll up to them and ask them to let you join us?" she joked and he rolled his eyes.

"They'd probably attack me the moment they saw me."

"Probably, but I'd still vouch for you," she answered with a shrug and he gave her a small smile.

"As much as I appreciate that, I don't think it'll help much with everything I've done."

"You never know, it might," she offered. "I mean, at least you're not Azula, so you've got that going for you."

Zuko huffed a wry laugh. "Can you imagine Azula trying to join you all?" He mimicked his sister's voice, snide and nasally. "'Listen, Avatar, I can join your group or I can do something unspeakably horrible to you and your friends. Your choice.'"

Rinzen couldn't stop a laugh from escaping at how spot-on his impression was. "Maybe don't lead with threats of murder."

He looked slightly pleased with himself for making her laugh even as he mused, "What would Uncle say?" He deepened his voice a little, making it slightly more gruff as he imitated Iroh. "'Zuko, you have to look within yourself to save yourself from your other self. Only then will your true self reveal itself.'" He wrinkled his nose thoughtfully as Rinzen snorted with more laughter, returning to his normal voice. "Even when I'm talking for him, I have no idea what he's saying."

"Stop overthinking it," she insisted as she got to her feet, nudging her shoulder against his gently. "Just be yourself. Pretend you're trying to convince me, as if I were everyone else."

He sighed, facing her and plastering a smile on his face. "Hello, Zuko here." She bit back a laugh at how awkward and nervous he sounded. "Well, um, I guess you know me already, sort of." He flushed slightly. "Uh, so the thing is, I have a lot of firebending experience, and I'm considered to be pretty good at it. Well, uh, you've seen it, you know, when I was attacking you?" He ran his hand through his hair, frustrated. "Maybe I should apologize for that."

"That'd be nice, yeah," she agreed, grinning a little.

"But anyway, I'm good now," Zuko pressed ahead, sounding flustered. "I mean, I thought I was good before, but I realize now I was bad and I - um -"

"Maybe breathe?" she suggested and he sucked in a deep breath and let it out, scrubbing a hand over his face.

"This is never going to work."

"Hey, it wasn't that bad," she lied and he gave her an unimpressed look.

"You're a terrible liar."

"Just don't start with 'hello, Zuko here,'" she conceded, unable to stop a giggle from escaping, and he buried his head in his hands miserably.

* * *

They landed the war balloon in a forest clearing at the base of the mountain where the Western Air Temple was nestled and Rinzen found a narrow stone staircase that she had almost forgotten existed, half-covered in moss from years of neglect. It wound along the side of the mountain almost all the way to the top, where she knew the temple was built upside-down under the ridge.

"I haven't been here in a long time," she admitted as they began to climb the staircase.

"Well, yeah, I figured it's been a hundred years," Zuko deadpanned and she elbowed his side lightly.

"I meant even without the years on ice. Last time I was here, I was getting my tattoos."

"Last time I was here, I'd just been banished," he answered wryly, following Rinzen as she hopped over a missing step that had crumbled over time. "We were both thirteen when we were last here."

"Huh." Rinzen paused, considering that. "I guess we were, yeah." She couldn't quite wrap her head around the fact that they had both been the same age, albeit a hundred years apart, the last time they had visited the Western Air Temple. She ran her hand along the wall as they walked, feeling the old carvings in the stone underneath layers of dirt and moss. "What was it like last time you were here? The temple?"

Zuko frowned slightly as he fell into step beside her, watching her fingers trace over the carvings. "Kind of sounds selfish to say it, but I wasn't really paying much attention at the time," he admitted after a moment. "I probably should've been."

Rinzen shrugged one shoulder. "Not that big a deal, just wondering." She stumbled over a step that had sunken slightly lower than the others and Zuko grabbed her elbow to steady her. She gave him a grateful smile before hopping over the step to the next one. "When Aang and I were at the Eastern Air Temple, I couldn't stop noticing how empty it was. These temples used to be full of people all the time." She paused just long enough to run her fingers over a familiar set of three swirls carved into the side of the mountain - the Air Nomad emblem. "I'd like to work on restoring them someday, after the war's over."

"I'd like that, too," Zuko agreed and she glanced back up at him to see him watching her consideringly, a small smile on his face. "It'd be nice to see how the temples used to look when you and Aang were growing up in them." He nudged his shoulder briefly against hers before nodding to the staircase. "Come on. We're almost at the top."

As they approached the top of the staircase, Rinzen could hear familiar raised voices above them and felt a twinge of relief to hear Aang's voice among them, despite how frustrated and upset he sounded. She hesitated on the steps and Zuko paused beside her, pressing his hand briefly against hers.

"Go on," he insisted. She managed a brief, grateful smile at him before taking a deep breath and climbing to the top of the stairs, stopping in her tracks when she saw the group gathered in the center of the large, open hall of the Western Air Temple. Katara and Aang were facing away from her while Sokka and Toph stood in front of them, their expressions serious as they argued. Appa was curled up behind them, his warm brown eyes somber as he licked at his paws, Momo nestled between them.

"We went through nearly every hallway of that bunker!" Aang complained.

"I'm just saying, we never even found the Fire Lord's chamber, who knows how many hallways we missed while trying to find-?" Sokka broke off as he noticed Rinzen over Aang's shoulder, his expression breaking into a wide smile. "Rin!"

"Yeah, that's who I'm talking about," Aang pointed out, confused, but then followed Sokka's gaze and spun around, his eyes widening. "Rin?" His voice trembled slightly, as if not daring to believe she was really there.

Rinzen felt her throat tighten at the sound of her brother's voice even as she took a few tentative steps forward. "Hi," she managed to get out, but before she knew it, all four of them were running forward and she found herself enveloped in the tightest hug she had ever received. Aang was closest to her, his head burying itself into her shoulder, and she clung to him as tightly as she could, doing her best not to break down then and there. It was one thing to know Aang was alive, but seeing him in front of her was almost overwhelming. With a soft rumble, Appa climbed to his feet and joined them, his nose nudging at the top of Rinzen's head while Momo wiggled into the clustered group to curl against Rinzen's chest.

Almost too soon, everyone was pulling away, still beaming widely, even though Aang still looked somewhat bewildered. "Rin, how'd you even get here?"

"I had help," Rinzen confessed, settling Momo on her shoulder. "Please don't freak out." Almost immediately, everyone's expressions shifted into anger and shock as they looked over her shoulder and she knew Zuko had made his appearance.

"Uh, hello, Zuko here," he offered tentatively and Rinzen grimaced inwardly.

"I told you not to start with that," she reminded him, glancing over her shoulder, and he shrugged helplessly back at her.

"What's _he_ doing here?" Katara snapped, her voice far more venomous than Rinzen had ever heard it before as she drew a wave of water from a nearby fountain in preparation to strike Zuko.

"He brought me here," Rinzen explained quickly, stepping between them so that Katara wouldn't attack. Momo hissed at the sudden movement and took off from her shoulder, clambering onto Appa's head instead.

"I know you must be surprised to see me-" Zuko began.

"Not really, since you've followed us all over the world," Sokka interrupted dryly and Zuko flushed slightly.

"Right, um. Well, what I wanted to say was that, uh, I've changed, and...I'm good now. And I wanted to, um, join your group, and, oh, I want to teach you firebending." He said it as quickly as he could, flustered and embarrassed by everyone's eyes on him, and Rinzen winced when she saw the angry glares aimed at him.

"Are you _serious_?!" Toph exclaimed first.

"You can't possibly think that any of us would trust you, can you? I mean, how stupid do you think we are?!" Katara snarled.

"Yeah!" Sokka agreed. "All you've ever done is hunt us down and try to capture Aang!"

"That's not true, I've done some good things!" Zuko argued, casting a desperate glance at Rinzen, who nodded in agreement.

"He got me out of prison," she reminded them. "And he freed Appa from the Dai Li." As if to prove her point, Appa growled and then nuzzled Zuko fondly, licking his cheek. Zuko grimaced slightly at the sticky bison drool covering his cheek, but patted Appa's nose gently all the same.

"Appa _does_ seem to like him," Toph said thoughtfully.

"That doesn't mean anything, he probably covered himself in honey so that Appa would lick him," Sokka grumbled goodnaturedly.

"I can understand why you wouldn't trust me, and I know I've made some mistakes in the past," Zuko admitted.

"Like when you attacked our village?" Sokka snapped.

"Or when you stole my mother's necklace and used it to track us down and capture us?" Katara added with a scowl.

"Look, I admit I've done some awful things. I was wrong to try to capture you, and I'm sorry that I attacked the Water Tribe. And I never should have sent that Fire Nation assassin after you. I'm going to try and stop-"

"You sent Combustion Man after us?!" Sokka shouted angrily.

Zuko frowned. "Well, that's not actually his name, but-"

"That guy locked me and Katara in jail and tried to blow us all up! Multiple times!" Toph protested and Rinzen felt a stab of fear as she glanced at Zuko, suddenly nervous that she had put her faith in him again too soon.

"I thought you said you didn't hire him to kill them."

"I didn't!" he insisted, turning to her with a wide-eyed look of panic that convinced her, albeit only slightly, that he was being sincere. "I swear, I told him not to hurt them!" He turned to Aang, who had been watching silently until then. "You once said we could be friends," he pleaded. "You know there's good in me."

Aang bit his lip, glancing between the others' angry expressions and Rinzen's worried one, before exhaling quietly and turning a steely gaze on Zuko. "There's no way we can trust you after what you did." Rinzen felt her heart sink in disappointment as Aang turned to her with an apologetic look. "I'm sorry, Rin. I know you believe him, but we can't let him join us."

"If you won't accept me as a friend, then maybe you'll take me as a prisoner," Zuko offered, dropping to his knees and raising his wrists in surrender.

"No, we won't!" Katara threw a jet of water at Zuko, knocking him back towards the edge of the cliff.

"Katara, stop!" Rinzen hurried between them, dispelling the next wave of water with a blast of air. "He's not trying to hurt us!"

"Then he should get out of here and we'd better not see him again," Katara retorted angrily and Rinzen looked over her shoulder to see Zuko picking himself up gingerly.

"It's okay," he reassured her when he looked up and met her worried eyes. "You know where I'll be if you change your mind." He retreated down the staircase and Rinzen turned on the others once he was out of earshot, her own anger rising now.

"What is _wrong_ with all of you?!"

"What's wrong with _us_?" Katara echoed furiously. "What's wrong with _you_?! Are you seriously telling me you believe that - that _ash-maker_ after what he did?!" Rinzen had never heard the insult before, but she knew from the way Katara spat it out that it was a horrible slur.

"That's uncalled for," Aang cautioned, stepping forward with his hands raised, but Katara shouldered past him, her fists clenched as she glared at Rinzen.

"Are you really that stupid that you're going to fall head over heels for him every time he starts pretending to be a real human being?!"

"Excuse me?" Rinzen felt her temper flare in response. "I'm not the one who just threw away Aang's best chance to learn firebending!"

"To be honest, I'm with taller Twinkletoes," Toph admitted. "We were just talking about how Aang needs a firebending teacher. Now one just shows up on a silver platter and you won't even consider it?" Katara still looked angry, but somewhat chastised as she dropped her gaze to the ground.

Aang shook his head. "I'm not having Zuko as my firebending teacher," he said stubbornly.

"Darn right, you're not," Sokka agreed.

"Well, I guess that settles it," Katara said, sounding satisfied as she took a seat on the edge of the fountain and crossed her arms smugly.

"Ugh," Toph muttered, stalking off as she grumbled, "I'm beginning to wonder who's really the blind one around here."

Rinzen glowered at Katara, who purposely turned her head away with a scowl, but Aang grabbed her sleeve to gently tug her along. "Come on," he insisted and she grudgingly let him lead her into the dark hallway of the temple. "Look, I'm sorry, Rin," he apologized once they were out of earshot from the others. "I know you believe him, and I want to believe you. But we can't take that risk again. Even if I was okay with it, none of the others would be."

Rinzen opened her mouth to argue, but found herself sighing heavily instead. "I know. You're right. I don't even know whether I should believe him as much as I do. It's not that my feelings about him are getting in the way, I swear-"

"I know," Aang reassured her quickly. "Of all people, I know you'll be the most objective about this. And you wouldn't let him near me if you thought for even a second that he'd hurt me. But we can't trust him. At least not yet."

"Yeah, I understand," she agreed reluctantly before glancing around the hallway they were in. "Can't believe we're back here."

"Yeah." Aang followed her gaze, a small smile tugging at his lips. "It's kind of surreal, isn't it? We should go exploring. See how much things have changed."

Rinzen nodded in agreement, although her mind was still on Zuko and how bitter and angry Katara had looked. "Yeah. I'd like that." Maybe exploring the temple would take her mind off what had happened, and maybe some time to cool off would help Katara, Sokka, and Aang reconsider their decision, since Toph seemed already on her way to taking Rinzen's side.

* * *

Katara refused to talk to Rinzen for the rest of the day, which suited Rinzen just fine since she was equally as upset with Katara for reacting so badly to Zuko's attempted apology. Even Sokka, once he had cooled down, seemed marginally more open to the idea of Zuko joining them while Aang remained torn between keeping his friends happy and giving Zuko a chance.

Toph disappeared in the late afternoon, deciding to get a feel for the grounds around the temple, leaving Aang and Rinzen to explore the temple, meet the other kids who had escaped the invasion, and catch each other up on what they had missed.

"A secret dance party," Rinzen said dryly as she nudged a tile on the giant Pai Sho board they had found in one of the rooms. "You guys threw a school of Fire Nation kids a secret dance party while I was imprisoned underneath the palace."

Aang flushed slightly, embarrassed. "Well, we had to do something to give them a little hope. We also cleaned up a polluted river and Sokka learned to use a space sword."

"A _what_?" Rinzen said, bewildered, but Aang moved another tile and successfully distracted her from asking further.

It was another few hours of playful bickering and Pai Sho games before she realized she had never really gotten an answer.

"Okay, but what's a space sword, though?" she demanded when they all sat down to dinner, a stew Katara had prepared, and Sokka grabbed a sheath from their pile of supplies to unveil the jet-black sword inside. "That's pretty neat, but what makes it a space sword?" Rinzen asked, raising an eyebrow.

"It came from space, obviously." Sokka rolled his eyes, grinning at Rinzen's confusion. "So a meteorite hit near us a while ago and I used the metal from it to forge a sword with the help of Master Piandao."

"You guys had some weird adventures while I was gone," Rinzen said, shaking her head.

"We also learned the dangers of gambling," Aang added cheerfully and Rinzen gaped at him.

"I should hope so!" she exclaimed, horrified, and Katara stifled a snort of laughter, still attempting to pretend she was angry at Rinzen as she passed out bowls of stew to everyone.

"Actually, speaking of things you missed-" Aang reached over Sokka's space sword to retrieve a familiar staff, tossing it to Rinzen. "We kept it safe for you for when we got you back," he explained as she laid her glider reverently across her knees, reaching over to tug him into a one-armed embrace. She knew his own glider had gotten destroyed when he had first woken up from his coma, so the fact that he had kept hers safe was all the more touching.

Even after all the others had gone to sleep, Rinzen and Aang stayed awake, leaning between Appa's front paws side by side while the bison's soft breaths warmed the tops of their heads.

"You have no idea how much I missed you," Aang confessed quietly, stroking Momo's ears as the lemur curled up in his lap, dozing quietly and chittering in his sleep.

"Not nearly as much as I missed you," Rinzen answered with a wry smile, knocking her shoulder gently against his. "I never really told you how much I love you, did I?"

Aang looked up at her, wide-eyed and startled. "You don't have to, I know you do. And I love you, too, more than anything."

"I know you do, you dork." Rinzen rolled her eyes fondly, tossing her arm around his shoulders to tug him close again. "It just got me thinking, while I thought you were dead, that I never actually said it. And I thought, at the time, I'd never get another chance to say it, and now I do."

Aang's eyes were suddenly much brighter as he turned slightly to hug Rinzen properly, burying his face into her shoulder. The movement dislodged Momo from his lap even a the lemur let out a sleepy hiss of protest and then crawled over to nestle into the crook of Sokka's neck where he slept in a sleeping bag on the other side of the open hall, Katara curled up in her own sleeping bag beside her brother.

"You're not gonna lose me again," Aang promised quietly, clutching her tightly, and she let herself melt into the warm embrace as she pressed her face into his shoulder in return.

* * *

Rinzen awoke slowly, feeling warmer and safer than she had in a long time, and lifted her head just enough to find that her head had been pillowed by the top of Aang's head as he slept against her shoulder, curled up against her side. Appa was awake already, but seemed contented to just lay with his airbenders, rumbling quietly and nuzzling the top of Rinzen's head when he noticed she was awake. With a smile, she reached up to rub the bison's nose gently, careful not to accidentally wake Aang. It was the first time she hadn't had a nightmare since Ba Sing Se, which left her feeling far more rested than she expected. She stroked the fur of Appa's front paw slowly, soaking in the warmth around her for just a little longer, until Aang stirred, rubbing his eyes and sitting up sleepily before glancing up at Rinzen and smiling.

"Morning." He leaned back heavily into her side and she wrapped her arm around his shoulders, tugging him close. "I was worried yesterday was a dream, but you're really here."

"And I'm not planning to go anywhere," she reassured him, ducking her head to press her cheek to the top of his head fondly. The sounds of people moving around made her look up again to find Katara and Sokka wide awake and preparing breakfast, handing out bowls of porridge to some of the other kids who had joined them after the invasion. Rinzen recognized Teo, the boy in the wheelchair, as one of the people Aang had introduced her to the previous day, along with the Duke, who had been part of Jet's Freedom Fighters.

Katara approached Rinzen and Aang, two bowls of porridge balanced carefully in her hands. "You two hungry?" She didn't quite meet Rinzen's eyes, but there was far less hostility in her expression than there had been the previous day.

"Sure, thanks." Aang hopped to his feet to take one of the bowls from her, giving her a bright smile before heading in Sokka's direction.

Katara took a seat beside Rinzen, passing over the other bowl in her hands, and Rinzen took it to begin eating slowly, not sure what to say to her. "I'm sorry I snapped at you yesterday," Katara said after a few moments of silence.

Rinzen shrugged one shoulder. "It's not me you ought to be apologizing to."

Katara rolled her eyes. "I'm not apologizing to _him_. I can't believe you even let him near Aang after what happened."

Rinzen frowned. "Katara, he's changed. I'm not just saying that because of how I feel about him, I mean it. I was there when he stood up to his father and rescued me."

Katara pursed her lips. "I just don't want to make the mistake of letting him in and then getting Aang hurt again," she muttered, getting to her feet. "I'll trust your judgment, Rin, but I hope you know what you're doing." She took a few steps before pausing. "Hey, have you seen Toph since yesterday?"

Rinzen shook her head, now frowning in concern. "No. Has anyone else?"

Katara shook her head as well. "No, it's why I'm worried. I hope she's okay."

"Toph can take care of herself," Rinzen reminded her. "She's probably just exploring the area."

Katara chewed her lip anxiously before opening her mouth to answer, but a loud explosion of rock from the wall of the temple startled them both, Rinzen dropping her half-full bowl of porridge as they both rushed over to where Sokka and Aang were pulling Toph out of the newly-made hole in the wall.

"My feet got burned!" she complained, grimacing as she half-crawled out of the hole and let Sokka and Aang help her out the rest of the way.

"Oh no, what happened?!" Katara asked, horrified, and Toph turned a deadpan glare on her.

"I just told you, my feet got burned."

Katara rolled her eyes. "I meant how."

Toph looked suddenly sheepish. "Well, I kind of went to see Zuko last night."

Rinzen felt her heart sink as Aang exclaimed, "You what?!"

"I thought he could be helpful to us," Toph explained as Katara drew some water from the nearby fountain to start attempting to heal her feet, which Rinzen could see were burned and blistered painfully. "And if I talked to him, maybe we could work something out."

"So he attacked you?" Sokka demanded.

"Well, he did and he didn't," Toph hedged. "It was sort of an accident."

"But he did firebend at you," Aang clarified and Toph sighed heavily.

"Yes."

"That settles it, Zuko's too dangerous to be left alone," Sokka said firmly.

"Wait, no, you heard her, it was an accident," Rinzen insisted, feeling a stab of panic. "He probably didn't even know it was her."

"No, Rin. I hate to go looking for a fight, but Sokka's right. After what he did to Toph, I don't think we have a choice," Aang agreed reluctantly as he helped Sokka carry Toph over to the fountain so that Katara could work on healing her feet properly. Toph sighed in relief as her feet sank under the cool water.

"Ahh, that's the stuff. Now I know how you guys feel, not being able to see with your feet stinks," she complained goodnaturedly.

"Maybe we could lure him back here by taking him up on his offer to make him our prisoner," Sokka mused as Katara knelt by the fountain, bending the water until it shone with healing power. "Then we could jump him and _really_ make him our prisoner."

"You're a master of surprise, Sokka," Katara said dryly.

The hairs on the back of Rinzen's neck stood on end suddenly and she turned just in time to see a nearly-invisible jet of boiling hot air race towards them, hitting a spot just above the roof of the temple and exploding on impact. Aang reacted immediately to the attack, throwing a blast of air to shield them from the chunks of stone raining down.

"It's Combustion Man!" Sokka shouted and Rinzen raised an eyebrow at him even as she followed the line of fire to where a tall, imposing man stood, his right arm and leg made of shiny metal and an eye tattooed on his forehead.

"Combustion Man?" she echoed as she took the man in. "You really need to work on naming things, Sokka. That doesn't suit him at all."

"Could be worse, he used to call him Sparky Sparky Boom Man," Toph said as Sokka lifted her out of the water to hurry her to shelter, the other kids following them into the temple. The assassin on the ledge took a deep breath, preparing to fire again, but before Rinzen could react, Zuko leapt onto the ledge and tackled the man, sending the shot into the cliffside instead.

"Stop!" he shouted at the man, who shoved him aside easily with his metal hand. "I'm ordering you to stop!" Zuko tried again, attempting to push his way in front of the assassin. "I told you not to hurt any of them! You've got no business here!"

Katara and Aang froze, taking in the information, even as Rinzen hurried to grab her glider from where she had left it beside Appa, who had retreated further into the shelter of the temple and was now growling with fear. She could hear the assassin saying something in a deep voice, but it was too low for her to hear. She snatched up her glider and turned back just in time to see Zuko attempt to firebend at the assassin, who deflected the flame with a wave of his hand before grabbing the front of Zuko's shirt and shoving him back hard. He promptly sent a blast at Zuko, who created a wall of fire to try and absorb the attack, but the explosion pushed him over the ledge and out of sight, leaving a crater where it had made impact. Rinzen felt her heart stop as she clutched her glider tightly, fearing the worst, and then her heart resumed beating again when she saw a flicker of movement just below the ledge, where Zuko had grabbed onto a plant root to begin climbing to safety.

As Katara and Aang did their best to field away the volleys of attacks from the assassin, Rinzen snapped her glider open and took off, hoping to at least cause a distraction and get Zuko out safely. She was hardly able to appreciate the wind ruffling through her hair after so much time grounded as she flew up to the ledge where the assassin stood. She dodged an explosion aimed at her, snapping her glider shut as she landed neatly on the ledge and sent a funnel of wind at him. He hardly moved even an inch, his metal limbs leaving him immovable as he stalked forward silently, his eyes fixed on Rinzen, who backed up a few steps while holding her staff up defensively in front of her.

Before she could attempt to airbend again, however, Sokka's boomerang whistled past her, slamming directly into the assassin's forehead in the center of his eye tattoo. He shouted in pain, falling backwards, and a few pops of sound like fireworks emerged around his forehead before an explosion erupted around him, heat and smoke rushing around Rinzen as she leapt off the ledge and snapped her glider open on the way down. She held onto the glider with her feet, hanging upside-down off it as she flew down past Zuko and grabbed his hand just as he lost his grip on the plant root. He clutched her hand tightly as she sent an air current with her free hand to her glider to bring them back to the temple. Her footing slipped and the glider fell out of her grasp as they tumbled to the stone floor of the temple, rolling to a halt. Rinzen looked up to find that the ledge where the assassin had stood had been destroyed, only a crater remaining where it had been, as the remnants of a metal arm fell into the ravine below.

"Are you insane?!" Zuko demanded breathlessly as he sat up, grabbing Rinzen's shoulders the moment she pushed herself upright. "You could've gotten yourself killed!"

"I had to do _something_!" she protested.

"And you thought facing one of his explosions head-on would help?!" He exhaled sharply before hauling her close suddenly, startling her. "Don't ever do that again," he muttered against the top of her head and she relaxed just enough to slip her arms back around him.

"I'm okay," she reassured him. As hurried footsteps approached them, she realized just how close they were and pulled back abruptly, climbing to her feet and grasping his hand to help him up as well.

"Rin!" Aang ran forward, throwing his arms around Rinzen, and she clutched him back tightly, keeping one arm around his shoulders as he drew back and eyed Zuko beside her warily. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but...thanks, Zuko."

"Hey, what about me? I did the boomerang thing," Sokka complained as he, Katara, and Toph joined them.

Aang shook his head fondly, but Zuko spoke suddenly, "I know I didn't explain myself very well yesterday, I've been through a lot in the last few years and it's been hard. But I'm realizing that I had to go through all those things to learn the truth. I thought I had lost my honor, and that somehow, my father could return it to me. But I know now that no one can give you your honor. It's something you earn for yourself, by choosing to do what's right." He glanced at Rinzen, who gave him a small smile, and took a deep breath before focusing back on Aang. "All I want to do now is play my part in ending this war, and I know my destiny is to help you restore balance to the world." He turned to Toph, who was thankfully standing of her own volition since Katara's healing had taken effect, and bowed to her. "I'm sorry for what I did to you. It was an accident. Fire can be dangerous and wild, so as a firebender, I need to be more careful and control my bending, so I don't hurt people unintentionally."

Toph waved off the apology, but Aang's expression was pensive. "I think you _are_ supposed to be my firebending teacher," he said after a moment, hesitating before glancing at Katara. "When I first tried to learn firebending, I burned Katara, and after that, I never wanted to firebend again. But now I know you understand how easy it is to hurt the people you love." He turned back to Zuko, bowing to him. "I'd like you to teach me."

Zuko smiled and bowed back to him. "Thank you. I'm really happy you've accepted me into your group."

"Not so fast," Aang said, frowning now. "I still have to ask my friends if it's okay with them." He turned to Toph first. "Toph, you're the one he burned. What do you think?"

Toph shrugged. "I say let him join. Gives me more time to get back at him for burning my feet."

"Sokka?" Aang turned to Sokka expectantly.

Sokka chewed his lip, but then shrugged. "Hey, defeating the Fire Lord's all I care about. If you think this is the way to do it, I'm all for it."

"Katara?" Aang turned an uncertain look on Katara, who looked far less convinced than Rinzen hoped she would.

"I'll go along with whatever you think is right," she muttered sullenly after a tense moment, noticing everyone else's eyes on her.

"I won't let you down," Zuko insisted fervently, but the group was already dispersing, Katara still glowering at Zuko over her shoulder.

Rinzen knocked her shoulder lightly against Zuko's. "Give them time," she reassured him. "They'll come around. In the meantime, we can at least move your stuff here."

"Yeah." He gave her a small smile, clearly relieved that he had been accepted into the group despite their misgivings as they headed for the stone steps to pack up his makeshift camp and move his things to the temple.

* * *

 **Yay, Zuko joined the team! :D**

 **It was a difficult decision for me to make Rinzen and Zuko break up - at least temporarily - but I figured it should be natural since they went through a lot and it seemed too sudden for them to just get back together as if nothing happened. I promise it's not permanent!**

 **I hope you enjoyed this chapter! I look forward to writing everyone slowly warming up to Zuko, lol.**


	12. Firebending Practice

**Chapter 12: Firebending Practice**

* * *

"Did you ever find out why Combustion Man was attacking everyone even after you told him not to?" Rinzen asked as she passed Zuko a bowl of stew that night at dinner, settling in beside him and leaning against Appa's front leg as the bison grumbled contentedly, nibbling on a bale of hay in front of him. The rest of the group seemed keen on ignoring Zuko as much as possible, even though Rinzen could tell that they were listening in despite their own conversations.

"I told you, his name's not Combustion Man," Zuko sighed wearily. "But yes, I did. He told me right before he turned on me."

"Well, the name's grown on me now," Rinzen admitted with a grin, elbowing his side lightly. "So what happened?"

Zuko pursed his lips, dropping his gaze to the bowl in his hands. "Azula happened."

Everyone fell silent abruptly, their attention turning fully on Zuko as the pretense of ignoring him disappeared.

"Azula?" Aang echoed, frowning across at Zuko from Rinzen's other side. "What's she got to do with Combustion Man?"

"I think she must've suspected you were alive, and she wanted to clean up her own mess before our father found out she'd lied to him. She'd already covered for herself by telling him I was the one who took you down in Ba Sing Se, but I know she likes to be thorough. We both hired him for different reasons, but he probably took her contract more seriously." Zuko pinched the bridge of his nose, grimacing. "I shouldn't've trusted him."

Hesitating for a moment, Rinzen nudged her shoulder gently against his. "Hey, at least you didn't put the actual hit on Aang's head."

"See, you're making progress being a good guy already," Aang agreed cheerfully. Zuko glanced up at him briefly, his expression a mix of disbelief and confusion at Aang's optimism, before shaking his head wryly and dropping his gaze to the bowl in his hands, his eyebrows furrowed pensively.

As the others slowly returned to their original conversation topics, Aang distracting Katara from burning a hole into the side of Zuko's head with the intensity of her glare by starting a conversation with her, Rinzen shuffled a little closer to Zuko, nudging his side lightly to get his attention.

"Don't beat yourself up over it," she said quietly and he glanced back up at her, frowning.

"But it's my fault."

"Well, there are plenty of other things that are actually your fault, so don't add it to the pile," she answered jokingly and he rolled his eyes mildly. She added, "The way I see it, even if you hadn't hired him, Azula would've. So nothing would've changed."

He huffed slightly. "I guess." Still, he cracked a tiny smile, leaning in slightly to press his shoulder against hers. "Thanks."

It was still slightly overwhelming to have him so close to her, his warmth against her side tempting her to curl up into it, but she managed a smile back at him, knocking her shoulder back against his.

"Anytime."

* * *

Rinzen had hoped the nightmares would end once she was back with Aang and the others, but she awoke in a cold sweat in the middle of the night, her heart feeling like it would leap out of her chest and the lump in her throat nearly choking her as she scrambled off the small cot in one of the rooms inside the temple and hurried out the door. She did her best to be as quiet as possible, knowing that everyone else was sleeping inside the temple just like her - the night had gotten too chilly to spend outside despite it being the middle of summer - but still practically ran down the hall to the room Aang had chosen for the night and peeked in, clutching the door frame as she did her best to slow her panicked breathing down.

Aang was fast asleep, one arm curled around Momo as the lemur slept beside him and his other hand tucked underneath his head. The bison-shaped whistle he had bought to call Appa with months ago lay beside his pillow and his blanket was tossed haphazardly over him. Rinzen watched his chest rise and fall slowly in his sleep and found some comfort in it, knowing that he was safe and sound. She crept into the room, straightening out the blanket and covering him properly with it as she tucked the ends around his shoulders carefully to make sure she didn't wake him. She knew he had to be up at sunrise the next morning to begin his first day of firebending lessons with Zuko. After a moment's hesitation, she brushed her hand over the top of his head fondly, unable to help a small smile at how peaceful her little brother looked.

He stirred briefly at her touch. "Rin?" he mumbled. It was a testament to how trusting he was, even after everything she knew he had been through, that he didn't even bother opening his eyes to see if it was really her.

"It's okay, nothing's wrong," she reassured him softly. "Go back to sleep."

To her relief, he didn't ask any questions, only humming slightly in acknowledgment and dozing off again. She slipped out of the room as quietly as she could, nearly yelping in surprise as she nearly collided directly with Zuko's chest.

"What're you doing up?" He raised an eyebrow.

"I could ask you the same thing, you nearly gave me a heart attack," she hissed back, barely remembering to keep her voice down as her heart slowly returned to a normal pace again.

"I heard you moving around outside." He tilted his head to the end of the hall in a silent question and she nodded, following him outside.

The night air was still somewhat chilly, but Appa clearly didn't mind with all his fur, his flat tail curled around him and his legs folded underneath him as he slept deeply by the dying embers of the fire they had built earlier in the evening. Zuko took a seat in front of the small pile of kindling, pushing a small flicker of fire into it to build it back up, and Rinzen dropped down beside him, focusing on how the heat washed over her skin as little sparks leapt from the wood onto the stone floor.

"So are you going to tell me why you were checking on Aang in the middle of the night?" Zuko prompted after a few moments of silence, leaning back against Appa's large furry side, and Rinzen shrugged one shoulder as she did the same.

"No reason." Zuko leveled her with a look that meant he clearly didn't believe her and she dropped her gaze away from him, not liking how vulnerable it made her feel. "I just needed to make sure he was okay. That's all."

"Right. And the nightmares you've been having aren't part of the reason at all." She glanced up at him sharply to find him looking somewhat sheepish. "Sora said you had them every night."

Rinzen rolled her eyes. "Remind me never to trust Sora with anything I don't want you to know."

Zuko huffed a soft chuckle. "If it makes you feel better, neither of us know what exactly your nightmares were about. Although I can take a guess."

"Keep guessing all you want, because I'm not saying anything," she answered stubbornly and he held his hand out. After a moment, she gave in and dropped her hand into his, palm up, and he laced their fingers together slowly. She tried not to enjoy how nice it felt to have his warm palm cradle the back of her hand even as she marveled at how naturally their fingers curled around each other.

"Okay, well, let's see." He made a show of thinking for a moment before deciding, "You were failing a math test." The guess was so far off from what she had expected him to say that she couldn't stop a laugh from bubbling out. He smiled, clearly pleased that his words had had their intended effect as he played with her fingers absently. "You showed up on the first day of school and realized you forgot pants." She shook her head, another giggle escaping before she could stop it. "You got lost on the way to school."

"I'm getting the impression that all of _your_ nightmares are school-related," she pointed out once she got her laughter under control.

"I never really liked school growing up, okay?" He wrinkled his nose and she found herself smiling despite herself at how endearing the expression was. Finally, his expression sobered as he dropped his gaze to their intertwined hands. "Ba Sing Se?" he guessed finally. "In the catacombs?"

She swallowed back the sudden lump in her throat, relieved that his eyes weren't on her. "Yeah." His expression crumpled in guilt and she turned her hand over in his, squeezing his fingers gently. "It's okay. _I'm_ okay. I just had to make sure he was."

"It's my fault it even happened in the first place." He kept his eyes fixed on their hands, his eyebrows furrowing slightly. "You should never have to have nightmares about your brother dying."

"Hey." She reached out impulsively, nudging his chin up gently, and he reluctantly lifted his head to meet her eyes. "That's not your fault. You didn't take the shot, Azula did."

"I still helped," he pointed out dryly.

"Well, you're making up for it now." She reached up to brush her thumb over the crease between his eyebrows and it automatically smoothed out as he blinked at her, surprised. "There, no more worry," she said, satisfied.

"I mean, there's still a little worry," he deadpanned, but smiled fondly all the same. Her throat tightened at the sight of his smile and she barely resisted the urge to lean in and kiss him, dropping her gaze away from him. To her surprise, he lifted their hands to press his lips to her knuckles softly and she was left breathless, like she had been punched in the stomach. How was she supposed to stick to her resolve of wanting to remain friends when he did things like that? "I'm sorry," he said quietly as he lowered their hands again after a moment and her heart finally resumed beating. "I don't think I'll ever say it enough to make it up to you, but I am, Rin. For everything."

"I know you are," she managed to say once she regained control of her voice, squeezing his hand lightly. "We'll be okay."

"Will we?" he asked, a hint of amusement in his voice as he cracked a small, wry smile. "Because I don't think we will if Katara has anything to say about it."

Rinzen rolled her eyes. "She'll come around." She shuffled closer before she could stop herself, nestling against his side, and he readily released her hand to wrap his arm around her shoulders instead. "Just give it time."

He huffed a quiet laugh and she felt him press his cheek against the top of her head. "If you say so," he murmured, a note of fondness in his voice that she only remembered hearing once before from him, that morning before she had left for the Eastern Air Temple. She shoved aside the pang of melancholy that came with the memory, curling in closer to his warmth as she watched the fire in front of them flicker and dance, throwing little spots of light around them.

* * *

She hadn't meant to fall asleep against Zuko, but realized that she had ended up doing just that when she was awoken by the first rays of sunlight peeking over the eastern horizon and hitting her directly in the eyes. She grimaced and turned her face into the crook of Zuko's neck as he shifted to sit up, pausing when he realized it would be impossible without dislodging her.

"Rin, you need to let me get up," he pointed out, but she could hear the smile in his voice as he brushed his fingers through her hair. She leaned into his warm touch drowsily. "I need to get Aang and start teaching him firebending."

"Five more minutes," she muttered back, still half-asleep, and felt his shoulders tremble slightly with a suppressed chuckle.

"Okay, five more minutes," he conceded as he leaned back again. She hummed quietly, content to have won the fight as she dozed off again. She only returned to consciousness when she heard soft voices nearby.

"You're good for each other." She recognized Aang's voice, quiet and wondering. "She seems happy."

"You think?" She could hear the frown in Zuko's voice as he shifted upright slightly, his fingers carding through Rinzen's hair absently. "Seems like all I've done is hurt her."

"Trust me, I've seen her smile more often when she's talking about you than the whole time we were growing up together." There was a small note of bitterness she had never heard before in Aang's voice as he spoke. "She felt more like a stranger than a sister sometimes back then. And when she met you, it was like you gave her a reason to be her own person." He hesitated. "I don't really know what's going on between you two. But you make her happy. So just...be good to her, okay? She deserves it."

Zuko was silent for a moment before answering solemnly, "I know she does." Rinzen felt him tighten his hold on her almost protectively. "I won't hurt her again. I promise."

"Good, because you and I both know it's a bad idea to make me mad," Aang joked and Rinzen took the opportunity to pretend to wake up, shifting slightly to sit upright. Both Aang and Zuko fell silent, clearly trying to pretend as if they hadn't been talking about her, and she opened her eyes to find them watching her warily, trying to determine if she had overheard them.

"Was I keeping you two from starting your training?" she asked around a yawn and they both relaxed.

"It's still early enough," Zuko reassured her as he pulled back to climb to his feet, Aang following his lead. "You were only out for a few extra minutes." He nodded to the stairs leading up to an open platform above them. "We should train in open areas so the fire isn't enclosed. Besides, I don't think Appa's that fond of fire." Rinzen followed his gaze behind her where Appa had stirred and begun inching away from the dying pile of embers in front of them.

"He's not," Aang confirmed, frowning worriedly as he watched Appa shuffle away from the fire. "He went through a lot while he was separated from us. We still don't know the extent of it, but he's been pretty scared of any fire aimed at him ever since." Rinzen reached back to stroke Appa's massive side as the bison grumbled slightly, but settled down.

"I'll take care of him," she reassured Aang. "You two go ahead and start your lesson, I'll get started on breakfast for everyone in the meantime." Aang still looked uneasy, but nodded as he followed Zuko up to the open platform. Rinzen could still hear them talking as she climbed to her feet, stretching a little before stoking the embers back into a flame once Appa was a safe distance away and retrieving water to start boiling over the fire.

"Now I know you're nervous, but remember, firebending in and of itself is _not_ something to fear," Zuko was saying to Aang when she turned her attention back to them.

"Not something to fear," Aang echoed skeptically, "Right."

"But if you don't respect it..." Zuko added warningly, pausing for dramatic effect before shouting suddenly, "It'll chew you up and spit you out like an angry komodo rhino!"

Aang yelped in surprise, jumping back, and Rinzen bit back a smile as she poured out some rice from their meager supplies - they needed to start foraging for fruits and nuts soon to replenish their food - to begin cooking it into porridge. She knew that Aang was used to that kind of teaching style from Toph and only needed to get used to hearing it from Zuko, too.

"Now show me what you've got," Zuko said calmly, as if he hadn't just snapped at Aang. "Any amount of fire you can make."

Rinzen paused in her work to look up, curious to see Aang firebending for the first time that she could see, and Aang took a deep breath before pushing his palm forward. A tiny wisp of smoke escaped, but no real fire. Aang dropped his stance, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly as he flushed with embarrassment.

"Maybe I need a little more instruction. Perhaps a demonstration?" he suggested tentatively.

"Good idea," Zuko agreed. "Stand back a little." He ushered Aang to the side and focused for a moment, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath before punching forward hard. To Rinzen's surprise, only a small flame flickered out of his closed fist. Even Zuko looked confused, attempting to conjure another blast of fire and only managing the same tiny flame. Aang applauded politely all the same, his eyebrows furrowing in concern at Zuko's growing frustration with each failed attempt. "What was _that_?" Zuko demanded angrily at last, giving up on trying to conjure the fire blast as he studied his hands as if hoping to find the problem in his palms. "That was the worst firebending I've ever seen!"

"I thought it was nice," Aang offered. "Maybe it's the altitude?"

"Maybe," Zuko agreed, but didn't sound convinced.

"Or maybe it's just too early in the day?" Rinzen called up to them and they both jumped, clearly having forgotten she was listening in.

"But firebending's supposed to be strongest at dawn," Zuko complained as he and Aang began to make their way back down.

"Well, it won't hurt to try again when the sun's higher in the sky," Rinzen reasoned as the others began to slowly make their way out of the temple, Katara scowling briefly at Zuko before silently taking over Rinzen's breakfast preparation.

However, even after Rinzen convinced Zuko and Aang to eat breakfast and the three of them retreated to a lower platform to resume the firebending lesson, Zuko was still unable to conjure a proper blast of fire, throwing punch after punch, but only yielding the smallest of flames each time.

"That last one felt kind of hot," Aang said as he sat up on the broken pillar where he and Rinzen were watching Zuko attempt to firebend.

Zuko glowered back at him. "Don't patronize me, you know what it's supposed to look like!"

"Sorry, Sifu Hotman," Aang said apologetically for the fourth time that morning and Zuko groaned, dropping his head into his hands.

"And stop calling me that! No one says 'hotman' anymore!"

Rinzen frowned worriedly as she sat up beside Aang. "Do you think something's actually wrong with your firebending?" she pointed out.

"I don't know!" Zuko glanced up at her again, frustrated as he ran his hands agitatedly through his hair. "This has never happened to me before!"

"Hey, jerks, mind if I watch you two jerks do your jerk-bending?" Sokka asked cheerfully as he strolled up, munching on an apple and oblivious to the tension in front of him.

"Get out of here!" Zuko snapped back, pointing in the direction Sokka had just come from.

"Jeez, relax, I was only kidding," Sokka snickered even as he obediently turned to leave. "Ahh, jerk-bending, I still got it."

Rinzen shook her head wearily as she got to her feet, crossing the distance between herself and Zuko and closing her hands over his. His fingers were still hot from the recent blasts of fire he had thrown, but cooled down rapidly the moment her own fingers curled around them. "Hey. Breathe." He grudgingly took a deep breath, letting it out slowly as he dropped his gaze to their intertwined hands. "Whatever's wrong, we'll figure it out. Don't work yourself up."

"I've never _not_ been able to firebend before," he said quietly, no longer sounding angry, but worried as he looked back up at her. "If we don't figure out what's happening, then Aang's going to need a new firebending teacher, and fast." They both turned to look at Aang, who was glancing between them warily. Belatedly realizing how close she was to Zuko, Rinzen released his hands quickly and took a few steps back.

"We'll figure it out," Aang reassured Zuko, managing a smile, but Rinzen could still see the worry on both of their faces.

* * *

"Listen, everyone, I've got some bad news," Zuko said at dinner that night, approaching the fire everyone was gathered around. "I've lost my stuff."

There was an awkward pause before Toph piped up, "Don't look at me, I didn't touch your stuff."

"Not like that," Zuko reassured her quickly. "It's my firebending. It's gone."

Another moment passed before Katara suddenly let out a harsh laugh. "Sorry," she said sarcastically when Zuko leveled her with a frown. "I was just thinking how nice it would've been if you lost your firebending all those times you were hunting us." From beside Katara, Rinzen elbowed her, but Katara didn't even flinch, only rolling her eyes back at her.

"In any case, it's not actually gone, just weaker for some reason," Zuko clarified.

"Well, maybe you're just not as good as you think you are," Katara retorted, taking a bite of food, and Toph snickered.

"Ouch."

"Maybe it's because you changed sides," Rinzen said suddenly as an idea occurred to her.

"Don't be ridiculous," Katara dismissed, but Zuko looked as if he was considering it.

"You think it's because my drive is different now?"

Aang nodded thoughtfully in agreement from Rinzen's other side. "Maybe you just don't have enough anger to fuel your bending anymore."

"So that's easy, we just make Zuko angry," Sokka pointed out with a cheeky grin. "Sounds simple enough." He reached over with a nearby stick, managing to prod Zuko in the shoulder several times before Zuko swatted the stick out of Sokka's hand irritably.

"Look, even if you're right, I don't want to rely on hate and anger anymore," he said as he glanced back at Rinzen. "There has to be another way."

"Well, then, you're gonna have to learn to draw your firebending from a different source," Toph answered easily instead. "I recommend the original one."

"What's that, a volcano?" Sokka said dryly.

"Maybe he could jump into one," Katara added with a smirk and Rinzen dug her elbow a little harder into Katara's side.

"Well, I don't know about firebending, but the original earthbenders were badgermoles," Toph explained. "One day, when I was little, I ran away and hid in a cave. That's where I met them. They were blind, just like me, so we understood each other." She smiled a little at the memory. "They taught me to use earthbending not just as a martial art, but as an extension of my senses. For them, the original earthbenders, it wasn't just about fighting. It was their way of interacting with the world."

"That's amazing," Aang said reverently, smiling as he added, "Rin and I learned from the monks, but the original airbenders were the sky bison. We haven't really changed our ways since we first learned from them." He tilted his head back to Appa, who was chewing on a bale of hay nearby. "Maybe you could give us another lesson sometime, buddy." Appa grumbled in response and Rinzen cracked a smile despite herself.

"Well, this doesn't help me. The original firebenders were the dragons, and they're extinct," Zuko said, to her surprise.

"Extinct?" she echoed, bewildered. "But Avatar Roku had a dragon as his spirit guide, and plenty of dragons were around when Aang and I were growing up." She glanced at Aang to find a stunned expression on his face as well. "Didn't you and Kuzon keep talking about wanting to ride a dragon?"

He grimaced as he rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly, even though a small smile came to his face at the mention of Kuzon, his old friend from the Fire Nation. "We may or may not have tried once, but couldn't do it. But we did save her egg from poachers, so she didn't eat us."

"Eat you?" Rinzen echoed, frowning back at him disapprovingly. "Where was I during all this?"

"Probably back home being a spoilsport like always," he answered cheerfully and Sokka snorted with amusement.

"Rude," Rinzen muttered, offended.

"In any case, the dragons aren't around anymore," Zuko said sharply, drawing their attention back to him, before his eyebrows furrowed in thought suddenly. "But maybe there's another way. The first people to learn from the dragons were the ancient Sun Warriors."

"Sun Warriors?" Aang echoed, glancing at Rinzen, who shook her head back at him.

"Never heard of them before."

"You wouldn't have, they died off thousands of years ago," Zuko reassured her before turning to Aang. "But their civilization isn't far from the Western Air Temple. Maybe poking around their ruins might teach us something."

"The monks did always say that sometimes the shadows of the past can be felt by the present," Aang agreed, chewing his lip thoughtfully.

"You can't be serious," Katara said suddenly and Rinzen glanced at her to find her looking between Aang and Zuko skeptically. "You two are going alone to some ancient ruins on the off-chance you find _something_ that'll teach you to firebend? No concrete plan if this doesn't work?"

Aang frowned back at her. "What other choice do we have, Katara? Zuko needs to get his firebending back, and I need to start learning somehow. It's best to get as close to the original source as we can."

Katara huffed a little, but had no argument, so she got up to focus on cleaning up after dinner. Rinzen began to help her as the others dispersed, Zuko and Aang breaking off to start discussing their imminent voyage.

"I can't believe you're okay with this," Katara muttered as Rinzen helped her collect everyone's bowls.

"What?" Rinzen blinked at her, confused.

"Them going off alone. You really trust Aang in Zuko's hands?" Katara demanded, frowning back at her.

Rinzen bit her lip, contemplating the question, before exhaling quietly. "I know you're worried about Aang, but hovering over him won't help. Believe me, I tried that all our lives, it never worked. He'd just get into trouble anyway." She stacked the bowls as high as she could and Katara bent a stream of water from the nearby fountain to begin rinsing them out. "I do trust Zuko not to hurt Aang, but even if I didn't, I know that Aang can take care of himself. Anyway, I think it'll be good for them to get used to working together without us in the way. It's only for a day or two."

Katara pursed her lips, but sighed heavily after a moment. "I don't agree, but I guess I'm the only one here who thinks so," she said reluctantly.

"You kind of are," Rinzen agreed with a wry smile and Katara rolled her eyes, but cracked a smile despite herself as they finished cleaning up. Aang and Zuko approached them again, causing the smile on Katara's face to instantly vanish as she glared at Zuko before turning sharply on her heel and following the others inside the temple.

Aang sighed a little in frustration as he watched Katara go. "She'll come around," he reassured Zuko, who was also watching Katara's retreating back with a forlorn expression on his face. "I'll go talk her down." He gave Rinzen a brief smile before hurrying after Katara.

Zuko reached out for Rinzen's hand and she let him take it, lacing their fingers together. "Aang and I are taking Appa in the morning to the Sun Warrior ruins," he explained. "We shouldn't take more than a day or two to come back."

"Sounds good." She squeezed his hand lightly. "You'd better get some rest, then, if you're heading out early."

"Actually, that's what I wanted to talk to you about." A faint pink flush rose in his cheeks. "You, uh, didn't have any nightmares last night, when we were asleep next to each other. So I had an idea that, um, maybe company might help with the nightmares. Entirely platonic company. Only if you wanted, though."

Rinzen blinked back at him, confused. "You could've just asked me to sleep with you."

He turned even more red. "Well, I could've, but that implies an entirely different thing."

Belatedly, Rinzen realized what she had said, feeling heat rise in her own face as she dropped her gaze to the ground, mortified. "Oh."

Zuko huffed a soft laugh before nudging her chin up to face him again. "Just sleeping," he clarified. "Is that okay?" She nearly agreed, but caught herself, biting her lip hard, and Zuko noticed her hesitation, frowning slightly. "You don't have to if you don't want to," he reassured her.

"The problem is that I do want to," she admitted. "It just makes things more complicated."

He was silent for a moment before nodding. "Okay. I understand." He squeezed her hand lightly again and released it. "If you change your mind, you know where I'll be?"

"Yeah." She already missed the warmth of his hand around hers as he gave her a small smile before retreating into the temple. Appa's low grumble beside her distracted her as he shuffled slightly, lifting his head and tilting it curiously at Rinzen. "Oh, don't you start," she scolded mildly as she scratched under the sky bison's chin gently. She could swear sometimes that Appa understood everything around him, especially with the amused look he was giving her. She rubbed his nose fondly before ushering him away from the dimming fire so that he could sleep peacefully and then heading inside the temple.

She paused at the door to her small room, bracing her hand on the doorway as she looked in. It looked much like the room she had slept in growing up, one bare cot with a long, narrow window peering out into the courtyard of the temple. At one time, she imagined that she could've heard the serious discussions of older monks down in the courtyard as she prepared to go to bed in this room, and the giggling of younger children down the hall as they tried to avoid the nighttime curfew just a little longer, Aang's voice among them as he encouraged them all to stay up late and play together. Now, however, everything was silent and far lonelier than she had expected it to feel. She found herself turning away from the small, empty room before she could stop herself, heading down the hall and slipping into the last room on the right.

Zuko was still awake, propped up on one elbow as he studied a map and traced out a route to the Sun Warrior ruins, and looked up when she entered the room, a smile spreading across his face. It still took her by surprise to see how sincere it was. "Hi. You changed your mind?"

"Shut up," she grumbled, not in the mood to be teased about changing her mind even as she took a seat on the edge of the bed.

"I wasn't gonna say anything," he said, rolling his eyes fondly, but moved over obediently as he set the map aside. She nestled in against his side, pressing her head against the crook of his neck. Even with his firebending practically gone, he was so warm that she found herself curling in against him instinctively. "You gonna be okay while we're gone?" The question dragged her out of the cozy, sleepy state she was in and she nodded against his shoulder.

"I'll be fine." She had a feeling the next couple of days would be rough while she worried about Aang and Zuko being gone, but she knew just how important it was for Zuko to get his firebending back and for Aang to start his training.

"We'll try to be back as soon as we can." She felt Zuko's fingers brush through her hair.

"I know. I'll be okay, really." She tilted her head back just enough to catch the worried expression on his face, managing a small smile back. He studied her for a few more moments before relaxing a little, nodding as he pulled her in close again.

"Okay. As long as you're sure."

* * *

Zuko and Aang left early the next morning with Appa, almost as soon as the sun rose, and Katara seemed to warm up to Rinzen almost the instant Zuko was gone. It felt somewhat like old times again as they practiced bending against each other and explored the temple with Sokka and Toph. It had the additional bonus of keeping Rinzen distracted from worrying about Aang and Zuko while they were gone, although it didn't help when nighttime rolled around and there was still no sign that they were returning.

Momo seemed to sense Rinzen's anxiety and curled up with her that night to sleep, his long tail looping around her wrist as he nestled into the crook of her elbow. She rubbed his ears fondly when he looked up at her and chirruped sadly, his large green eyes wide and miserable.

"I know, buddy, I miss them, too," she told him honestly and he nibbled on her fingertips gently in response before closing his eyes and dozing off. She stroked his fur slowly, trying to stave off the inevitable, but reluctantly found herself drifting off as well.

Momo's company didn't stop a nightmare, though, and she started awake in the early hours of morning, her clothes sticking to her skin with cold sweat. The sun had barely risen over the horizon and a gray mist hung over the mountain ridges surrounding the temple. Rinzen slid out of bed, carefully untangling Momo's tail from her hand before stroking his ears when he stirred and whined sleepily at the disruption. He settled back down to sleep and Rinzen made her way out to the open hall of the temple.

To her surprise, Katara was already outside, bending water from the fountain around her in small, shimmering rivulets. She looked up when she saw Rinzen approaching, frowning slightly in concern.

"What're you doing up?"

"Couldn't sleep," Rinzen answered truthfully, sitting on the edge of the fountain to watch her practice waterbending. "What about you?"

Katara grimaced. "Same." She froze one of the rivulets of water before sending it out like a dagger towards the edge of the cliff and then thawing it just in time to bring the fluid stream back to her. The water curled around her slim wrist like a little snake. "I can't stop worrying about Aang."

"Me, too," Rinzen agreed, not wanting to mention Zuko and make Katara upset with her again. "But he'll be okay. They shouldn't be gone more than a day or two, at most."

"I know. Doesn't stop me from worrying." Katara let the water trickle down her wrist back to the pool at the base of the fountain, her lips pressed together as she debated saying something before finally exhaling quietly. "He really cares about you, doesn't he?"

"I mean, I should hope Aang does," Rinzen deadpanned.

"Not Aang, I meant Zuko." Katara looked back up at her, her expression weary even as her lips curved upwards in a small, tired smile.

Rinzen felt her cheeks redden as she dropped her gaze away from Katara. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Really?" Katara said dryly. "Because from what I can see, he's head over heels for you."

Rinzen shook her head as she fiddled with a loose thread on her sleeve, not wanting to meet Katara's eyes. "We're just friends."

Katara made a quiet humming noise, clearly unconvinced. "Well, with the way he looks at you when you're not looking, I wouldn't've guessed that."

"How does he look at me?" Rinzen asked, bewildered as she looked up at Katara, who smiled wryly back at her.

"Like you're his whole world." Rinzen didn't answer, unsure how to respond, and Katara sighed. "Look, I'll be the first to admit that I don't want Zuko here. But if him being here makes you happy, and he helps Aang, then I'll try and be civil to him."

"I'd appreciate that," Rinzen agreed. "I know you've got your reasons not to trust him, but he's really trying to do better. He deserves that chance."

"Well, we'll see," Katara said reluctantly, climbing to her feet as Rinzen followed her lead. "You want to get some practice in before the others get up?"

"Sure." As Katara drew more water from the fountain and Rinzen settled into a defensive stance, she did her best to ignore the thought of Zuko looking at her like she was his whole world.

* * *

It was almost overwhelmingly relieving to hear Appa land in the temple courtyard later that afternoon, but Rinzen couldn't get up to greet Aang and Zuko. Katara had her sitting on the temple floor, sitting on the edge of the fountain behind her and braiding her hair back to keep it from falling in her face whenever she practiced her airbending.

"Hey, guys," Aang said cheerfully as he and Zuko made their way into the open hall, stopping just outside Rinzen's field of view.

"Hey," Rinzen answered. "I'd turn to look at you two, but Katara's already smacked me for moving my head three times now." Katara tugged on a lock of her hair a little harder than necessary and Rinzen winced. "How were the ruins?"

"Really enlightening," Zuko deadpanned as he stepped into view, a wry smile on his face. "The good news is, we can both firebend now."

"Well, that's good." Rinzen frowned as she felt Katara's fingers moving to weave something into her hair. "Wait, what's she doing to my hair?" she demanded, glancing at Aang for help.

Aang peered over Rinzen's head before an odd expression came over his face, as if he was fighting laughter. "Don't worry about it," he said in a tone that Rinzen took to mean that she should definitely worry about it.

"I'm a little worried about it," she pointed out.

"No, really, don't worry about it," Zuko agreed when he noticed what Katara was doing, his tone just a little too innocent as he exchanged an amused look with Aang.

"I don't like that you two are ganging up on me," Rinzen complained. "Go back to being enemies."

Katara huffed as she tugged Rinzen's hair gently again. "Stop whining, Rin, I'm just making you look prettier."

"Prettier?" Rinzen reached back to feel her braided hair, ignoring Katara attempting to swat her hand away, and felt something soft brush against her fingertips. She tugged the foreign object out to find a tiny flower in her palm. "You put _flowers_ in my hair?!" she said, horrified as she tugged her hair out of Katara's grasp and did her best to remove as many of the flowers she could find. There were far more than she had expected, which meant Katara had clearly been braiding flowers into her hair for some time before getting caught.

"You've got a flower crown," Aang snickered, giving up on stifling his laughter, and Rinzen leveled him with a mild glare.

"Traitors, all of you."

* * *

 **Yeah, I know, this chapter is almost entirely fluff. Just pure, unadulterated fluff. I don't know why this just took over the majority of the chapter, but I still had fun writing it ^^'.**

 **I hope you enjoyed it!**


	13. On the Run

**Chapter 13: On the Run**

* * *

Training Aang in firebending became much easier once Zuko regained his own firebending. Rinzen also noticed a marked difference in how powerful Zuko's firebending had become after returning from the Sun Warrior ruins. Both he and Aang had been abnormally quiet about what they had seen in the ruins, but they had still shown everyone the firebending form they had learned from murals and statues that had, in Aang's words, "led us to the original source of firebending." It looked more like a dance than anything, and Zuko had to grudgingly admit that the firebending form was indeed called "the Dancing Dragon," much to Sokka's delight.

In the middle of the night a few days after Zuko and Aang returned from the Sun Warrior ruins, Zuko disappeared again with Sokka and the war balloon, leaving only a note behind.

"'Need meat, gone fishing. Back in a few days. Sokka and Zuko,'" Katara read, frowning at the small piece of parchment. Aang yawned as he lay back down, attempting to go back to sleep since Zuko wasn't there to force him to train at sunrise for once. "Oh, there's more." Katara turned the note over. "'Aang, practice your firebending while I'm gone. Do twenty sets of fire fists and ten hot squats every time you hear a badger-frog croak. Zuko.'"

Just as she folded the note to put it away, a badger-frog croaked loudly nearby and Aang groaned as he forced himself upright, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. "Nobody else has homework," he grumbled as he climbed to his feet and began his sets of fire fists and hot squats.

For the rest of the day, Rinzen took a little joy from imitating a badger-frog's croak in between real badger-frogs nearby, which left Aang practicing almost constantly. It took him until the late afternoon before he realized that he was being tricked. Katara burst into laughter at the look of indignation on Aang's face when he turned around to find Rinzen mid-croak.

"I can't feel my legs because of you!" he complained.

"Hey, I'm just preparing you to fight the Fire Lord," Rinzen answered innocently, but it didn't stop Aang from getting back at her by stealing her glider for the rest of the day.

Zuko and Sokka returned two nights later in a giant Fire Nation airship.

"What happened to the war balloon?" Rinzen asked, gaping at the metal monstrosity in the temple courtyard.

"It kind of got destroyed?" Zuko offered sheepishly.

"Must've been a crazy fishing trip," Aang said dryly. He still hadn't quite forgiven Rinzen for keeping him training constantly while Zuko had been gone, but he had at least regained feeling in his legs.

"Did you at least get any good meat?" Toph asked eagerly.

"The best meat of all," Sokka confirmed, grinning. "The meat of friendship and fatherhood." Rinzen frowned, confused, but then Suki and Hakoda stepped out of the airship and Katara sucked in a sharp breath.

"Dad?" She stumbled forward into her father's arms as Hakoda hugged her tightly, drawing Sokka into the embrace as well.

Rinzen sidled over to Zuko, who was watching the reunion with a small smile. "Okay, where did you two actually go?" she demanded.

He flushed slightly. "We may or may not have snuck into a high-security Fire Nation prison to break Sokka's father and girlfriend out."

"Why didn't you just say so?" she pointed out.

He shrugged helplessly. "We didn't want you all to worry."

She rolled her eyes, but found herself smiling all the same as she watched Sokka and Katara hug their father once more before letting the others greet him and Suki. "Well, at least I managed to perfect my badger-frog impression while you two were gone."

"Shut up, Rin," Aang retorted irritably from several feet away where he was shaking Hakoda's hand and Zuko bit back a laugh.

"Thanks for keeping him busy, anyway." He wrapped his arm loosely around Rinzen's shoulders and she found herself leaning into the embrace before she could stop herself.

* * *

The night was warm enough that everyone slept outside for once, curled together in little huddles of sleeping bags. Aang was already fast asleep on top of Appa's head while everyone else slept around the dying campfire, leaving Zuko and Rinzen to settle in against Appa's side for the night.

"So did anything else happen at the prison?" she asked quietly to keep from waking the others up, curling into Zuko's side comfortably. "Because it looks to me like something's still on your mind."

He bit his lip. "Azula was there when we made our escape. And so were Mai and Ty Lee. They turned on Azula to help us get away and she had them imprisoned."

"They turned on her?" Rinzen echoed, surprised.

"Yeah. I'd never seen her so angry before." Zuko grimaced slightly at the memory. "Mai and Ty Lee were probably the only people in the world she actually cared about. With them gone, I don't know what she'll do."

Rinzen frowned, studying his face for a moment before the emotion on it finally registered. "Wait, are you feeling _guilty_? How is any of this your fault?"

Zuko glanced back up at her, startled by her incredulous tone. "If I hadn't been there, then Mai and Ty Lee wouldn't have turned on Azula."

"But isn't it a good thing that they did?" she pointed out.

"Yes. I mean, no. I don't know." He scrubbed a hand over his face wearily. "It's good that she doesn't have them on her side, but...now she's got no one left who actually cares about her. Definitely not our father, anyway."

"And you feel sorry for her?" she guessed and he nodded, smiling wryly.

"That sounds stupid, doesn't it? Feeling sorry for Azula, of all people."

"She's your sister," Rinzen reminded him. "Even if she's crazy, I can't blame you for caring about her."

He relaxed a little at that, a more sincere smile spreading across his face. "Thanks." He slid an arm around her shoulders and she leaned into the embrace, nestling her head against his shoulder. "I don't think anybody else would've reacted the same way if I told them that I was feeling sorry for Azula."

She shrugged one shoulder, doing her best not to dislodge his arm accidentally. "I was just being honest."

"Yeah, well, I still appreciate it." She looked up slightly to find him smiling back down at her, his golden eyes soft and fond, and she felt her heart stutter in her chest as she realized that this was what Katara had meant when she had said Zuko looked at Rinzen like she was his whole world. In that moment, it felt like the rest of the world fell silent somehow and vanished into the background until it was just the two of them left.

Overwhelmed suddenly, she tore her eyes away from his, and the world rushed back in around them. Only a second or two had passed, but it felt like much longer.

"Rin?" The concern in Zuko's voice stung just as badly as looking at him did.

"We should probably get some sleep, it's late," she said quietly, burying her face into his shoulder to keep from meeting his eyes.

He didn't respond for a moment, but then sighed quietly and placed his head on top of hers. "Yeah, okay." He squeezed her shoulders gently. "'Night."

"Goodnight." She did her best to stamp down the conflicting emotions threatening to swallow her whole as she shut her eyes and tried to fall asleep quickly.

Normally, Zuko's company helped her sleep more soundly, but this time, she slept fitfully, doing her best not to toss and turn so that she didn't alert him. She felt like she had barely slept more than an hour when the temple shuddered with the impact of an explosion. Zuko jolted awake beside her, rolling over to shield her instinctively.

"I'm fine," she reassured him quickly, nudging him back as she opened her eyes to find Aang throwing a blast of air at a second incoming bomb so that it exploded in mid-air. "What's going on?" she called up to him as he slid off Appa's back and grabbed his glider, running to the edge of the cliff to investigate.

"We're under attack! Fire Nation airships!" he called back and she climbed to her feet, grabbing her own glider and joining him at the edge of the cliff. She peered over the edge to find several airships rising out of the mists below, large and ominous.

"We should go." She ushered Aang back to where everyone else was wide awake now, clambering to their feet and hurrying to pack up their camp. Several more bombs flew into the walls of the temple and rattled the foundations. Part of the ceiling began to crumble and Zuko grabbed Katara out of the way before the debris could hit her.

"What're you doing?" she snapped at him.

"Making sure you didn't get crushed?" He blinked back at her, bewildered by the hostility.

"Well, I'm not crushed, so get off me!" She shoved him off her and hurried to the wall of the temple, where Toph was working on boring a hole so that they could escape through the tunnel.

"I'll take that as a thank you," Zuko deadpanned after Katara's retreating back.

Rinzen did her best to usher Appa towards the tunnel Toph was creating, but he registered what she was leading him towards and tried to jerk away, whining nervously.

"It's not gonna work," Aang sighed, rubbing Appa's side gently to soothe him. "Appa hates tunnels."

"Well, it's not like we have much of a choice," Rinzen pointed out worriedly. "We can't get past them."

Zuko glanced over his shoulder, his eyes narrowed at the airships, which were stopped in front of the temple and hovering perfectly still in the air. "In any case, I think this is a family visit." He hesitated before glancing at Rinzen. "Keep trying to get Appa through, I'll hold them off." Before she could grab his hand to stop him, he broke into a run towards the airships.

"Zuko!" she called after him, but he ignored her, dodging a bomb that exploded beside him on the floor of the temple as he headed for the cliff's edge and stopped in his tracks.

"What're you doing here?!" he shouted and Rinzen could see Azula leaning over the edge of the railing of the airship nearest the temple.

"Isn't it obvious?" she called back, a sneer in her voice. "I'm about to celebrate becoming an only child!" She flipped herself over the railing to send a massive blast of blue fire at Zuko, who parried it with an equally-powerful wall of fire.

"Come on, we've gotta get out of here!" Sokka insisted behind Rinzen, distracting her from the fight, and she reluctantly focused her efforts on helping them convince Appa to get into the tunnel.

"We can't get him to go through," Katara said in frustration after several failed attempts to tug Appa's reins forward.

"We're gonna have to split up," Sokka decided reluctantly before turning back to his father and the remaining group of refugee children. "Take the tunnel and get to the stolen airship."

"No!" Katara protested furiously, hurrying forward to grab Hakoda's hand. "The Fire Nation can't separate our family again, Dad!"

"It's only for a little while," Hakoda soothed her, hugging her tightly. "It's not forever, Katara." She didn't argue, but pressed her face into his shoulder hard for a brief moment and then tore herself away reluctantly. Sokka did the same, clutching his father tightly before letting him and the others retreat into the tunnel.

"I'm not going anywhere," Suki said firmly, grabbing Sokka's hand. "I'm coming with you."

Sokka opened his mouth to protest, but was distracted by Toph running her hand along a wall thoughtfully. "I could clear this out and we could fly right through here," she suggested.

"That's an awful lot of fire in that general direction," Sokka said skeptically, but Aang's expression was determined when Rinzen glanced at him.

"We'll get through," he said, climbing onto Appa's head. "Everybody get on." Rinzen climbed into the saddle before helping Katara and Toph up while Sokka and Suki climbed on from Appa's other side.

"Where's Zuko?" she demanded, glancing around for any sign of him, but he had vanished.

"We'll find him," Aang reassured her, snapping Appa's reins to get him moving. "You ready, Toph?"

Toph cracked her knuckles. "You gotta ask, Twinkletoes?" She pushed her hands out and the wall crumbled to form a shield of rock around Appa.

"Yip yip!" Aang called and Appa rose into the air as Toph concentrated on keeping the shield in front of him. They soared past Azula's airship as she focused on attacking them with a barrage of fire blasts. The heat was almost unbearable as the fire rushed around them, but the shield absorbed most of the impact as it crumbled away. Rinzen peered over the edge of the saddle, trying to spot Zuko, only to find him climbing on top of another airship and then leaping onto the ship Azula was on, aiming a blast of fire at her before she retaliated with a whip of blue flame.

"There he is!" she called to Aang, who followed her line of sight before turning Appa around quickly to dodge another rain of fire from the other airships they were flying past.

"We can't get to him safely," he protested.

"Well, we have to try," Sokka answered to Rinzen's surprise as he sat up, chewing his lip as he calculated a plan. "There's an opening. We can fly around and right under Zuko to catch him if he jumps off." He pointed at a space between two of the airships.

"They're gonna keep attacking us," Suki pointed out, but Katara's expression was stony as she flipped open her waterskin and drew out a large stream of water.

"Leave them to me." She whipped the water out at a fireball headed at them, batting it away and extinguishing it in the same movement as Aang tugged on Appa's reins to fly him between the two airships and around. They soared underneath the airship Zuko and Azula were on just as the two firebenders hit each other with an equally-powerful blast, the impact exploding between them and throwing them both off the airship.

Rinzen felt her heart seize in her throat as Zuko fell through the air, but Appa flew forward without even being prompted and she reached up as Katara did the same, both of them grabbing Zuko's arms to pull him into the saddle. He collapsed back against the edge of the saddle, breathing hard from the adrenaline, and Rinzen smacked the back of his head as he winced.

"Don't do that again!" she shouted at him over the rushing wind, but he was already looking back to where Azula was still falling through the sky.

"She's not gonna make it," he said worriedly, but then Azula twisted herself neatly in the air and pushed a blast of fire out from her feet to propel her until she could grab hold of the mountainside. Her hair fell out of its usual neat bun as she tore her hairpin out to jam it into the stone as a handhold. "Of course she made it," Zuko said bitterly, relaxing slightly and leaning into Rinzen's side as Aang snapped Appa's reins again and they soared away from the destroyed Western Air Temple.

* * *

"You know, it kinda feels like old times again, camping like this," Aang said cheerfully as they gathered around the fire that night after dinner with cups of steaming tea that Rinzen had made. Thankfully, Zuko hadn't tried brewing tea after the last disastrous attempt a few days ago and had left it to Rinzen to take over the task of brewing tea for everyone from then on. They had landed in a small clearing on a cliffside near Ember Island, where Zuko had said they could hide out until the day Sozin's Comet arrived.

"If you really want it to feel like old times, I could always chase you around for a while and try to capture you," Zuko said dryly, making everyone else laugh. Even Rinzen found herself biting back a smile as she elbowed Zuko lightly and he shrugged back at her, a small grin tugging at the corners of his mouth. Only Katara scowled, her lips pressing together firmly as she stared into the fire.

"Well, here's to Zuko," Sokka said as he lifted his cup of tea. "Who knew after all the times he tried to snuff us out, today he'd be our hero?" he added jokingly even as everyone else but Katara raised their cups in agreement.

"Hear, hear!"

Zuko flushed slightly at the praise, ducking his head. "I'm touched. I really don't deserve this."

"Yeah, no kidding," Katara muttered, setting her cup aside and pushing herself to her feet as she stalked away from the fire.

"What's with her?" Sokka said, bewildered.

"I wish I knew," Zuko sighed, setting his own cup aside and getting up to follow Katara.

"What's with _him_?" Sokka asked before glancing at Rinzen expectantly.

"Why're you looking at me?" she demanded.

"Hey, you're the Zuko expert, I thought you could translate," he said with a shrug and Toph elbowed him in the ribs hard. "Ow!"

"Maybe I should go check on them?" Rinzen mused, glancing over her shoulder at where Zuko had caught up to Katara at the edge of the cliff. They seemed to be in the middle of a heated argument.

"Let them hash things out at their own pace," Aang reassured her. "They're probably working out the details of their own field trip together."

Rinzen snorted with amusement even as Toph complained, "Hey, I never got a field trip with Zuko."

"Neither did I," Rinzen pointed out and Toph rolled her eyes.

"Escaping from prison and going to the Western Air Temple together counts, Rin." Suki opened her mouth, but Toph beat her to it. "That goes for you, too."

"Well, that's no fair, I had to share with Sokka," Suki huffed goodnaturedly, slumping back against Sokka's side, and he wrapped his arm around her shoulders, pressing a kiss against her temple fondly.

Rinzen dropped her gaze away from the couple, feeling like she was encroaching on a private moment between them. How did they find it so easy to be affectionate when even looking at Zuko was sometimes too much for Rinzen? Did Sokka find it just as terrifying when Suki was in danger as Rinzen had when she had been watching Zuko fall that morning, or more?

"Hey, Rin," Aang said as he nudged her shoulder, drawing her out of her thoughts as she looked up to find everyone dispersing for the night. "Is everything okay? You were kinda spaced out for a minute."

"I'm okay," she reassured him. "Just thinking, that's all."

He studied her face for a moment, frowning slightly. "You sure?"

"Yeah." She squeezed his shoulder. "I'm okay. You go ahead, get ready for bed. I'll clean up here and catch up in a minute."

"Okay." He still didn't sound quite convinced, but obediently got to his feet and headed over to Appa to settle the bison in for the night. Rinzen glanced over at the cliffside to find that Katara was heading for her tent, her expression stormy, while Zuko made his way to Sokka's tent, looking pensive. She busied herself with cleaning up the cups of tea and putting out the fire before heading over to join Aang beside Appa.

"Okay, maybe I'm not entirely okay," she confessed and Aang gave her a small, satisfied smile.

"I knew it." He sat down against Appa's foreleg, patting the ground beside him. "What's wrong?"

Rinzen dropped onto the ground beside him, smiling as Appa snuffled against the top of her head before laying down and curling around the two of them protectively. "I was thinking about earlier today," she admitted. "Watching Zuko fall."

Aang's eyebrows furrowed slightly. "But he's fine, we caught him."

"I know. I just-" Rinzen broke off, unsure how to put what she was feeling into words as she brushed her hair behind her ear and out of her face. It was more trouble than it was worth, leaving her hair as long as it was now, but she couldn't bring herself to cut it short again. "I don't know. Seeing him fall scared me. A lot. And it shouldn't, stuff like that happens to us all the time."

"But it's different 'cause it's him?" Aang guessed and she looked up to find him smiling back at her knowingly. "You know, this whole 'pretending you're just friends' thing is great in theory, but I don't think it's actually doing you any favors."

"Who's pretending?" she said, frowning. "We _are_ just friends."

"Right, and I'm a ten-foot-tall pink platypus-bear," he said dryly.

Rinzen wrinkled her nose. "Sarcasm doesn't suit you."

He huffed slightly. "You're missing my point. Why don't you just tell him that you love him?"

"What?" she said, taken aback. "I don't-" She broke off as the words registered slowly, finally putting a name to the way her heart skipped a beat every time Zuko smiled at her, and the way the world seemed to slow down every time she looked up to find him looking right back at her. "Oh." Her voice was smaller than she had expected as she looked back up at Aang, feeling like she had been hit over the head with a heavy brick. "I do, don't I?"

"And I thought you were supposed to be the smarter one between the two of us," he pointed out, amused.

"Shut up." She knocked her shoulder gently against his and he grinned. "Like you've told Katara how you feel about her."

His expression suddenly sobered. "I kissed her before the invasion," he admitted. "And we just...never talked about it after. It's like she wants to pretend it didn't even happen."

"Oh." Rinzen felt a pang of guilt. "I'm sorry, I didn't know."

"It's okay," Aang reassured her quickly, plastering a smile on his face, but she could still see the pain behind it.

"No, it's really not." She wrapped her arm around his shoulders, pulling him into an embrace. "I'm sorry. That's really rough."

"Yeah," he conceded, his voice trembling a little as he buried his face into her shoulder. "It's dumb to worry about something like that in the middle of a war and all, but it still hurts."

"I know," she reassured him, tightening her hold on him as she turned to wrap her other arm around him and haul him close. "It'll be okay." As she held her little brother tightly, she realized that she had been so obsessed with sorting out her own feelings towards Zuko that she had hardly paid any attention to how heartbroken Aang clearly was, and the resulting guilt was almost overwhelming.

"Is everything okay?" Zuko's voice broke through her thoughts and Rinzen pulled back from Aang to find him standing a few feet away, glancing between the two of them worriedly.

"Yeah, we're fine," Aang said quickly, climbing to his feet. "Just talking about stuff. Nothing important."

Zuko frowned, clearly not believing him as he looked at Rinzen. "You sure?"

She tried not to think about her sudden realization only moments earlier, but found it difficult the moment she met his eyes. "Yeah," she said, forcing herself to sound as casual as possible as she leaned back against Appa's front leg. "We're okay."

"I'm gonna go to bed," Aang said, aiming a pointed look at Rinzen before heading past them to his tent. "'Night, Zuko."

"Goodnight," Zuko called after him and Rinzen felt a pang of nerves the moment they were alone. "You sure everything's okay?" he asked again as he turned back to face her, his eyebrows furrowing in concern. "You're a little pale."

"I'm fine." To distract him, she asked, "So what happened with you and Katara?"

He sighed heavily as he took a seat in front of her. "It's complicated. From what I understand, she's associated the anger she has against me with the pain of losing her mother."

Rinzen frowned. "Well, that's not fair to you."

He shrugged mildly. "It is what it is. I went to Sokka and asked him what happened to their mother. Given what he told me, I think I know how to find the man who killed her."

"So, what, you're gonna take Katara on a revenge trip or something?" Rinzen said, raising an eyebrow.

"If it'll help her get closure."

"I don't know if that's such a good idea," she said slowly. "Revenge isn't always what someone needs to get closure. It's different for everyone."

"Well, maybe that's what she needs," Zuko pointed out.

"Maybe," Rinzen conceded. "But in any case, you'll have a harder time convincing Aang than me. I know him, he'll say that forgiveness is the best kind of closure." She cracked a wry smile. "He really took the monks' teachings to heart."

"What, and you didn't?" Zuko smiled back. "Wow, you must've been a terrible student."

"Shut up, I had different lessons than he did." She stretched a leg out to kick him and he moved out of reach easily, grinning. She was always taken aback by how much younger he looked when he smiled, like the years of pain he had gone through were reversed the moment his lips curved upwards.

"I'm gonna go wait for Katara and ask her what she wants to do," he said, drawing her out of her thoughts as he climbed to his feet. "You should get some sleep."

Belatedly, she realized she had never actually said what Aang had told her to, and before she could stop herself, she climbed to her feet and blurted out, "Hey, Zuko?"

"Yeah?" He paused, turning back to her and frowning curiously, and she found that she couldn't work up the nerve to tell him.

 _Just tell him you love him, just those three words_ , she urged herself, but the words seemed to stick in her throat. "Uh, just, um…you should get some sleep, too. Don't wait up all night for Katara, she's probably already asleep, anyway," she finished lamely.

He gave her a small smile that made her breath catch in her throat. "I will. 'Night, Rin."

"Goodnight," she answered weakly as he walked away, mentally kicking herself for not following through with what she had wanted to say in the first place.

* * *

To no one's surprise but Aang's, Katara stormed up to them the next day with Zuko in tow, demanding to take Appa so that they could find the man who killed her mother.

"What exactly do you think this is gonna accomplish?" Aang asked, his voice taking on that sage-like tone which Rinzen knew meant that he was going to try and convince Katara out of it.

"Ugh, I knew you wouldn't understand," Katara muttered bitterly, turning away from Aang.

"Of course I understand," Aang said hurriedly, dropping the tone as he hurried around to face Katara again. "How do you think I felt when the sandbenders took Appa, or when I found out the Fire Nation wiped out my people?"

"She needs this, Aang," Zuko insisted. "This is about getting closure and justice."

"No, this is about getting revenge," Aang pointed out, frowning.

"Well, fine, maybe it is," Katara snapped. "Maybe that's what I need, and maybe that's what he deserves."

"You sound like Jet," Aang answered worriedly.

"That's different," Katara dismissed. "Jet attacked the innocent. This man is a monster."

"Aang might be right," Sokka said hesitantly, speaking up for the first time. "She was my mother, too, but I don't know if this will help."

"Then you didn't love her the way I did!" Katara retorted and Sokka reeled back like he had been physically slapped, his eyes widening in hurt.

"Katara!"

Aang sighed heavily. "The monks used to say that revenge is like a two-headed rat viper. While you watch your enemy go down, you're being poisoned yourself."

"This isn't Air Temple preschool," Zuko said dryly. "This is the real world. And we can't always just sit back and do nothing."

"No," Aang agreed quietly. "It's easy to do nothing. But it's hard to forgive."

"It's not just hard," Katara said coldly. "It's impossible." She stormed off and Aang hurried after her, hoping to try and calm her down again.

"I did warn you he'd try to go all philosophical on you," Rinzen pointed out wryly and Zuko sighed.

"I know." He glanced at Sokka, who was still standing as if rooted to the spot and staring after his sister. "You okay?" he offered, his voice softening a little.

"Yeah," Sokka said quickly. "I'm fine." He hesitated. "Just...if you _are_ taking Katara to find the man who killed our mom, just make sure she doesn't get hurt."

"I know," Zuko reassured him. "I'll keep her safe." He glanced at Rinzen. "How mad would you be if Katara and I took Appa tonight after Aang goes to bed?"

"Not that mad," she answered with a small smile. "I'll explain it to him."

"You're the best." He squeezed her hand lightly before heading after Katara, who had clearly dismissed Aang rather harshly from the way the younger airbender's shoulders were slumped as he made his way back to Rinzen and Sokka.

Unfortunately, Aang was wide awake when Katara and Zuko attempted to sneak up to Appa late that night, both of them dressed in black.

"So you were just gonna take Appa anyway?" he complained as he sat up from where he was laying on Appa's other side, but Katara only glowered back at him.

"Yes."

"It's okay, because I forgive you," Aang said before giving her an innocent smile. "That give you any ideas?"

Rinzen elbowed him from where she sat beside him before giving Zuko an apologetic look. "I did try and get him away from here, but he was starting to suspect I was in on it."

"You _were_ in on it," Aang reminded her.

"Don't try and stop us," Katara said, drawing their attention back to her as she climbed onto Appa's head.

"I wasn't going to," Aang reassured her, frowning now. "You need to take this journey. But when you do face that man, let your anger out, and then let it go. Forgive him."

"Yeah, you make that sound so easy, Guru Goody-Goody," Zuko deadpanned as he tossed a bag of supplies up to Katara before climbing into the saddle.

"Thanks for understanding, Aang," Katara said after a moment, her voice softening slightly before she snapped the reins. "Yip yip." Appa took off and Zuko gave Rinzen one last wave before they soared out of sight.

"You know, you're pretty wise for a kid," Sokka said as he approached and took a seat on the ground beside Rinzen and Aang, watching Appa fly away.

"Thank you, Sokka," Aang said gratefully.

"It's usually annoying, but right now, I'm just impressed," Sokka added and Aang frowned slightly.

"Uh, I appreciate that."

Sokka hummed for a moment before asking, "So can I borrow Momo for a week?"

"Wait, what do you need Momo for?" Rinzen demanded before Aang could answer and Sokka only shrugged.

* * *

The next two days were uneventful while they waited for Zuko and Katara to return, despite Toph keeping Aang busy with his earthbending practice. Rinzen had finally allowed Aang to convince her to practice airbending with him when they heard Appa's familiar growl as he returned, landing on the grass by their campsite.

"Hey!" Aang called as Rinzen lost her concentration and toppled off the ball of air she had been attempting to balance on, grimacing as her shoulder hit the ground hard.

"Ow," she complained.

"You okay?" Zuko sounded amused as he slid off Appa's back, moving to help her up.

"This is what I get for trying to learn the air scooter trick after all these years," she answered, rubbing her shoulder ruefully. "What happened?" She peered over his shoulder to find Katara walking away from them, her shoulders hunched slightly as she headed down the cliff to the nearby docks.

"Give her a little time," Zuko said before she could move past him to go after Katara, glancing at Aang to make sure he stayed in place as well. "It was tough for her, but she let him go."

"She did the right thing," Aang agreed as he relaxed slightly, glancing at Katara's retreating back with a small smile.

"I think she'll be okay," Zuko added to Rinzen, giving her a small smile as he slipped his hand into hers. "It really helped her, finally seeing that man and getting some closure."

"That's good, I'm glad." She squeezed his hand lightly. "Do you think you two are gonna be okay?"

"I hope so," he answered, squeezing her hand back. "We should get moving, we can probably reach Ember Island by nightfall if we pack up now."

"I'll go tell the others," Aang said, turning to head back to the campsite and inform Sokka, Suki, and Toph.

"I didn't expect him to be right," Zuko admitted as they watched him go.

"About what?" Rinzen asked, glancing up at Zuko curiously.

"Katara letting the man who killed her mother go. I really thought she wouldn't get any closure from that, but she did."

"Violence isn't always the answer," Rinzen pointed out with a small frown. "Aang would probably say it never is."

"Then what does he plan to do when he faces my father?" Zuko asked quietly as he glanced back down at her, but she had no answer for him.

* * *

 **We're coming up on the final stretch of Book 3! I'm very excited, especially for the Ember Island Players, lol.**

 **Hope you enjoyed this chapter!**


	14. All The World's a Stage

**Chapter 14: All The World's a Stage**

* * *

Of all the things Rinzen had expected when they landed near the royal house on Ember Island, the last thing was to fall in love with the beach. The sand was softer than anything she had ever felt beneath her feet before, and still warm from a day's worth of sunshine even in the middle of the night. The moon hung low over the horizon and the faint white glow illuminated the sand, making it practically shimmer ethereally. The ocean waves lapped at the shoreline, the rushing sound of the tide coming in and out soothing as it washed away small pebbles and rainbow-colored shells before bringing new ones back and depositing them gently in the sand.

Rinzen found herself on the beach that night after everyone else had gone inside the house, just sitting at the edge of the water and feeling the waves wash over her toes.

"I was wondering where you were." She started at the sound of Zuko's voice, looking up to find him coming down from the house towards her. He was barefoot like her, probably having abandoned his shoes at the house the way she had when they had arrived.

She shrugged one shoulder. "I've never been to a beach before," she admitted, glancing back out at the moonlit horizon.

"Never?" He sounded surprised as he took a seat beside her, and she watched him dig his toes into the sand instinctively. She did the same, feeling the warm grains shifting between her toes every time the tide rushed in and then receded.

"Aang was the one who did most of the traveling when we were younger, not me. I usually stayed back at the Southern Air Temple," she answered. "I don't think it ever really hit me until recently how sheltered I used to be."

Zuko hummed consideringly, glancing out at the horizon as well. "I used to come here every summer with my family when I was younger," he said after a moment. "I guess I took it for granted back then." He picked up a small shell that washed up between them, fiddling with it absently before tossing it into the water and watching the tide take it away. "My father sent me and Azula here with Mai and Ty Lee for a weekend a couple months ago. I guess he wanted us out of the way for some time while he met with his advisors."

"How was _that_ trip?" Rinzen tore her eyes away from the rolling ocean waves to glance back at him and he smiled wryly.

"We played volleyball, had a big heart-to-heart around a bonfire, and then destroyed a guy's house over a party he was having." She gave him a disapproving frown. "Hey, I felt bad about it afterwards," he protested and she rolled her eyes back at him. "The whole time, though, I couldn't stop feeling like something was wrong," he confessed.

"Well, yeah, you destroyed a guy's house," she pointed out dryly.

"Not that," he dismissed before wrinkling his nose in thought. "Okay, well, yeah, that, too. But the whole trip felt wrong from the start." He ran a hand through his hair absently and she noticed how long it had become, reaching down to the base of his neck now and hanging messily in his eyes. Her fingers itched to reach up and push his hair back from his face and she buried her hand into the sand to keep from giving into the impulse. "It feels right this time, though," he said after a moment, drawing her out of her thoughts and making her realize that she had been staring at him. "Being here with you." He turned pink, as if he hadn't meant to say that out loud. "And the others, too," he added quickly and she smiled faintly as she knocked her shoulder lightly against his.

"It feels right being here with you, too," she reassured him, but found herself unprepared for how warmly he smiled back at her, like the sun coming out from behind dark storm clouds. Even after Aang had outright spelled it out for her, it kept hitting her like a punch to the stomach just how in love with Zuko she was.

She started to open her mouth, trying to get the words past the lump in her throat, but Zuko was already climbing to his feet, dusting the sand off his clothes. "We should head back inside, it's late," he said and she nodded dumbly as she followed his lead, the moment gone as they made their way back to the house.

* * *

"You guys aren't gonna believe this," Sokka said as he and Suki burst into the courtyard the next day, where everyone else was gathered after Zuko and Aang's morning firebending session. He and Suki were dressed in their Fire Nation clothes, which meant that they had clearly just returned from the small town nearby. "There's a play about us!"

"A _what_?" Rinzen echoed, bewildered as she sat up beside Aang where he was laying flat on his back on the ground, exhausted from his training. He lifted his head slightly, too tired to move any further, and Rinzen nudged him upright the rest of the way.

Sokka brandished a large poster depicting caricatures of himself, Aang, Katara, and Rinzen with Zuko in the background. "' _The Strangers in the Iceberg_ is a new production by acclaimed playwright Pu-on Tim, who scoured the globe gathering information on the Avatar from the icy South Pole to the heart of Ba Sing Se,'" he read off the poster. "'His sources include singing nomads, pirates, prisoners of war, and a surprisingly knowledgeable merchant of cabbage.'"

Katara snorted with amusement. "I told you we should've been nicer to that cabbage merchant we kept coming across," she deadpanned to Aang, who rolled his eyes in response.

"'Brought to you by the critically-acclaimed Ember Island Players,'" Suki added as she read the small script at the bottom of the poster and Zuko scoffed from where he was sitting on the edge of the dry fountain in the center of the courtyard.

"My mother used to take us to see them. They butchered _Love Amongst the Dragons_ every year," he grumbled as he rubbed a cloth over his hair, still sweaty from training with Aang. "This is going to be terrible."

"Not to mention dangerous. Do you really think it's a good idea to attend a play about ourselves?" Katara pointed out, frowning worriedly.

"Come on, this is the kind of time-wasting nonsense we've been missing," Sokka dismissed. "It'll be fine."

"I don't know, Katara has a point," Suki admitted hesitantly. "Most of the audience will be from the Fire Nation."

"Well, I say it'd be fun," Toph said, pushing herself up onto her elbows where she was reclining beside Katara.

"I'm in, too," Aang agreed. "What do you think, Rin?" He glanced up at her expectantly to break the tie and she shrugged.

"I guess I don't see any harm in it if we go disguised," she said, ignoring the betrayed look Zuko gave her.

"Majority rules, we're going," Aang said happily, far more energetic suddenly as he climbed to his feet. "We should get our disguises ready."

"Ugh," Zuko complained, but reluctantly got to his feet. "Come on, Rin, let's get you some Fire Nation clothes so you'll blend in." Rinzen climbed to her feet to follow him inside the house, letting him lead her up to the large attic and over to a trunk of clothes. "It's a good thing Azula left a bunch of her clothes here," he said absently as he pulled open one of the trunks and Rinzen wrinkled her nose.

"You're giving me _Azula's_ clothes?"

"Why, would you rather go in what you're wearing now?" He glanced over his shoulder at her, eyeing the Air Nomad clothes she had found in the Western Air Temple and had taken with her when they had fled the temple. "I mean, you could, but it goes against the point of blending in." He dug out a light red long-sleeved shirt and a darker pair of pants, tossing them over to her. "Try these. You two are about the same height, so they'll fit you."

To Rinzen's dismay, the clothes did fit perfectly. Despite being Azula's clothes, though, they were comfortable and didn't make her feel like a stranger in her own skin like Fire Nation clothes often had made her feel in the past. She wore a headband around her forehead to cover her arrow tattoos, tugging her sleeves down over the backs of her hands, and it felt much like she had all those months ago when she had first started wearing Fire Nation clothes whenever Zuko's ship had docked at new ports.

No one looked twice at the group as they made their way into town and towards the theater that evening, even though Zuko and Aang stood out the most with Zuko's cloak pulled over his head and a ridiculously-pointy hat jammed over Aang's head to hide his bald head and arrow tattoos. They made their way to the back of the theater and filed into a balcony so that they could make a quick escape if necessary. Rinzen took the back row with Sokka and Suki, leaving Aang, Zuko, Toph, and Katara in the front row.

"Hey, uh, I wanted to sit there," Aang protested when Zuko sat down between him and Katara.

"Just sit next to me, what's the big deal?" Zuko said, nonplussed, and Aang looked mildly disappointed as he dropped into the seat beside Zuko.

Rinzen bit back her amusement, settling into her seat next to Suki as Toph complained, "Why're we sitting in the nosebleed section? My feet can't see a thing."

"I'll tell your feet what's happening," Katara reassured her as the lights in the theater dimmed and the curtain began to rise. Sokka made an odd squeaking noise from Suki's other side as he leaned over the back of Katara's seat, grabbing her shoulder and pointing at the stage. Katara chuckled as she patted Sokka's hand absently, but Rinzen couldn't begin to wrap her head around why Sokka was so excited to see the actors on stage, who looked nothing like the real Katara and Sokka.

The actress playing Katara, an older, bustier woman in Water Tribe clothes, sighed dramatically as she leaned on the bow of the wooden cut-out of the canoe they were pretending to paddle in. "Oh, Sokka, my only brother," she said, her voice quivering as if she was about to burst into tears at any moment. "We constantly roam these icy South Pole seas, and yet never do we find anything fulfilling!"

The actor playing Sokka, a thin, scrawny man, rolled his eyes. "All I want is a full feeling in my stomach. I'm starving!" The audience burst out laughing.

"Is food the only thing on your mind?" the actress playing Katara demanded.

"Well, I'm trying to get it _out_ of my mind and into my mouth! I'm starving!" The audience laughed again.

Sokka looked outraged when Rinzen peered over at him, all excitement on his face gone. "This is pathetic!" he hissed. "My jokes are way funnier than this!"

"I hate to break it to you, but they're really not," Toph answered before Rinzen could beat her to it, grinning widely and leaning back in her seat to enjoy the show.

Zuko glanced over his shoulder at Rinzen, raising an eyebrow pointedly. "I told you this would be terrible," he muttered.

"Terribly hilarious, you mean," she corrected him as she placed her arms on the back of his seat, leaning forward and resting her chin on her folded arms.

"Well, we'll see how you feel when your actress gets onstage," he answered dryly, turning back around to face the stage. By the time Rinzen also turned her attention back to the play, the actress playing Katara had burst into tears in the middle of a speech about hope and the real Katara was scowling irritably.

"That's just silly," she grumbled, "I sound nothing like that."

"This writer is a _genius_ ," Toph said reverently, clearly soaking in the chaos with glee. Meanwhile, on the stage, a model iceberg rose up surrounded by mist as a spotlight shone on it to reveal two silhouettes inside. Aang leaned forward eagerly in his seat even as he glanced over his shoulder at Rinzen, who rolled her eyes fondly at his enthusiasm.

"It appears to be two people frozen in ice, possibly for a hundred years," the actress Katara gasped.

"But who? Who are the strangers in the iceberg?" the actor Sokka demanded.

"Waterbend! Hi-ya!" The actress Katara pretended to chop the iceberg in half as the model cracked open and two women leapt out. Rinzen recognized the smaller one immediately as Aang, with a skin-colored cap covering her hair so that she appeared bald, with blush painted on her cheeks. Meanwhile, the other actress looked vaguely bored, but surprisingly accurate to Rinzen herself with shoulder-length brown hair and an arrow drawn on her forehead.

"Who are you two?" the actress Katara asked wonderingly.

"I'm the Avatar, silly, here to spread joy and fun!" the actress playing Aang said cheerfully, her voice mockingly high-pitched.

"Is that a _woman_ playing me?" Aang hissed furiously and Rinzen heard Toph cackle under her breath from the other side of the balcony.

"And I'm his sister, I guess," the actress playing Rinzen added, her voice entirely monotone. Rinzen decided immediately that she liked the actress and how little she actually cared about whatever script she had been given. "And we can't go around spreading joy and fun, we need to go back home."

"Aw, you're such a buzzkill," the actress Aang complained.

"Yeah, it's because I'm dead inside," the actress Rinzen shot back irritably and the real Rinzen snorted with amusement.

"Sounds about right." Everyone turned to stare at her, looking vaguely concerned. "What?" She shrugged. "You can't tell me I wasn't really boring when you first met me."

"Well, yeah, but we didn't wanna say it," Sokka confessed after a moment and Katara turned around to hit his arm.

"Sokka, don't be mean!" she scolded.

"Well, she _was_!" he complained even as they turned their attention back to the play, but Zuko was still frowning at Rinzen.

"What?" she asked, feeling suddenly self-conscious under his worried gaze.

"I didn't think you were boring when I met you," he pointed out quietly and she felt her cheeks warm as she ducked her head slightly to avoid meeting his eyes.

"That's different, you're biased," she mumbled and he opened his mouth to protest, but she nodded to the stage. "You're up." He still looked like he wanted to argue, but reluctantly turned to face the stage again, where a model Fire Nation ship had glided onto the stage and the actors playing Zuko and Iroh stood on the deck. The actor playing Zuko had a headpiece on to mimic the ponytail he had had all those months ago and a patch with a realistic painted scar over the wrong eye, and he was in the middle of an argument with the actor Iroh.

"I must capture the Avatar to regain my honor!" he shouted.

"Well, while you do that, I'll capture another slice of cake," the actor Iroh said cheerfully as he swallowed a piece of cake.

"You sicken me!" the actor Zuko snapped.

The real Zuko sank down further in his seat sullenly. "I sound completely stiff and humorless," he muttered.

"Actually, that actor's pretty spot on," Katara said from beside him, amused.

"How could you say that?!" Zuko protested, sounding betrayed.

"Let's forget about the Avatar and get massages!" the actor Iroh said from the stage and the actor Zuko wheeled around to face him.

"How could you say that?!" Everyone in the group turned to look at the real Zuko and he buried his head into his hands miserably.

The rest of the act proceeded just as awfully, with terrible jokes and clumsy dialogue that sounded nothing like what they had really said in the past. Only Toph, Rinzen, and Suki seemed to get some kind of enjoyment out of it, although Rinzen suspected it was mainly because Toph was an agent of chaos while Suki just seemed entertained by all the adventures everyone had gone on, and Rinzen found it easier to laugh at herself when even her actress didn't seem all that interested in what was going on most of the time and mostly faded into the background while rolling her eyes.

As the first act concluded and the intermission began, everyone filed out of the theater to stretch their legs and the group found themselves on a flight of stairs just outside.

"So far, the best part of the play is the intermission," Zuko complained as Rinzen took a seat beside him.

"I don't know, it's not so bad," she reasoned as he gave her a dull glare. "I liked the part where I saved you from drowning after the ship exploded."

"Yeah, because that's the only part that actually happened the way they showed it," he pointed out as Aang frowned back at them.

"Wait, that was real? I thought it was just some drama they threw in."

"Yeah, that was a thing that happened," Rinzen answered vaguely, earning a worried look from Aang. "We were fine," she added reassuringly, but he didn't look all that convinced.

"Apparently, the playwright thinks I'm an idiot who tells bad jokes about meat all the time," Sokka grumbled as he returned with a bag of fire flakes and Suki grabbed a handful to munch on.

"Yeah, you tell bad jokes about plenty of other topics, too," she teased.

Sokka didn't catch on to her sarcasm. "I _know_!" he agreed vehemently and Suki rolled her eyes.

"At least he kind of looks like you," Aang pointed out bitterly. "That woman playing the Avatar doesn't resemble me at all!"

"You _are_ pretty in touch with your feminine side," Toph deadpanned and Aang glowered at her.

"Relax, Aang. They're not accurate portrayals. It's not like I'm a preachy crybaby who can't resist giving over-emotional speeches about hope all the time," Katara said, but raised an eyebrow when everyone just stared back at her. "What?"

"Yeah, that's not you at all," Zuko muttered and Rinzen dug her elbow into his ribs, making him wince slightly.

"Hey, this playwright did his research," Toph said, sitting up slightly. "I know it must hurt, but what you're seeing up on that stage is the truth."

"Yeah, well, let's see how you feel when _you're_ up on that stage," Sokka retorted. Soon enough, it was time to return to their seats for the second act. Aang dropped into the back row of the balcony with Sokka and Suki this time, leaving Rinzen to sit in his abandoned seat next to Zuko.

To everyone's dismay, Toph was delighted to find that a tall, muscular man had been cast as her. She giggled madly to herself as the actor playing Toph screamed a "sonic wave" at the audience before claiming to have gotten a pretty good look at everyone. The rest of the act flowed the same way the first had, although with far less of Rinzen sneaking off to visit Iroh and Zuko than had actually happened in real life, since Rinzen knew practically no one had known about her friendship with them at the time. She still took some enjoyment out of how bored her own actress seemed to be throughout the play while everyone else worked themselves up into a frenzy over how awful their respective actors were. The only time she felt a twinge of annoyance was when they reached the catacombs and the actress Katara and the actor Zuko were left alone.

"I have to admit, Prince Zuko, I _really_ find you attractive," the actress Katara said flirtatiously. To Rinzen's relief, the real Zuko and Katara leaned away from each other, trying to put as much space between them as possible.

"You don't have to make fun of me," the actor Zuko huffed, crossing his arms.

"But I _mean_ it!" the actress Katara insisted, closing the space between them and taking his hands as she batted her eyes. "I've had eyes for you since the day you first captured me!"

Rinzen leaned over to glance sideways at Katara and Zuko, who both looked visibly uncomfortable. "I didn't realize I was getting between you two lovebirds," she deadpanned to hide her own discomfort and Katara huffed as she reached across Zuko to swat at Rinzen's arm.

"Stop it!" she hissed. As Rinzen sat back in her seat, grinning, she heard Aang get up behind them and leave, but knew better than to call attention to it when Katara was already so flustered over what was happening on stage.

"Please tell me you don't actually believe that happened," Zuko muttered under his breath to Rinzen, eyeing his respective actor and the actress Katara embracing with a disturbed expression on his face.

"I've been taking this whole play with a few handfuls of salt, don't worry," she joked and he relaxed slightly, but his expression remained tense as the rest of the act progressed.

As the act concluded, Aang's actress was hit with a paper bolt of lightning and crumpled lifelessly to the floor, to the rest of the audience's delight, and Rinzen found herself getting out of her seat before the curtains even fell, making her way out to the open balcony of the theater and leaning over the wooden railing as she took a few deep breaths to calm herself down. It was a poor rendition of what had actually happened, but for a split second, she had been transported back to the catacombs, seeing Aang get hit by a jagged bolt of lightning and fall to the ground, and she had been helpless to do anything about it.

"Rin?" Zuko's voice behind her drew her out of the memory, worried and uncertain.

"I'm okay," she reassured him, scrubbing her hand over her face to compose herself before glancing over her shoulder at him with a small, forced smile. "Just needed some air."

"You don't have to lie to me. I know that wasn't easy for you to see." He leaned on the railing beside her, lowering the hood of his cloak since they were alone, and she let her smile fade as she lowered her gaze away from him. "Aang's fine," he reminded her quietly. "He's talking to Katara on another balcony right now."

"I know. I know he's okay." She rubbed her eyes as they stung sharply, embarrassed to be on the verge of a breakdown in front of Zuko. "Sorry. I'm being stupid, getting upset over it after all this time."

"He's your brother," he answered simply. "I can't blame you. I mean, I've had a few nightmares about Azula falling from that airship since it happened."

She looked up at him, startled. "You have?"

He shuffled uncomfortably, glancing away from her. "Yeah. That sounds stupid, doesn't it?"

"No, it doesn't." She reached out instinctively, lacing her fingers with his. "She's your sister."

"So why's it different for you?" he pointed out as he looked back up at her. "If it's not stupid for me to worry about my sister, it's not stupid for you to worry about your brother. Especially since you and Aang are a lot closer than Azula and I are."

She huffed slightly as she dabbed at her eyes again with her sleeve, unable to find a fault in his logic. "Don't use reverse psychology on me."

He cracked a smile. "Then quit being stubborn." He reached up to place his free hand against her cheek, his thumb swiping underneath her eye to wipe away a stray tear that she had missed, and she found herself leaning into his warm touch instinctively despite knowing that she shouldn't.

It felt surreal to have someone worry this much about her, to the point where he constantly went after her whenever she slipped away from the group. No one else had ever done that for her before; even Aang, as much as she knew he loved her, had always chosen to leave her to her own devices whenever she had disappeared in the past, trusting that she would come back eventually.

Whatever Zuko saw in her face made him frown suddenly, his eyebrows furrowing in concern. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," she said quickly, trying to manage a smile to reassure him, but his expression shifted almost instantly, closing off and becoming unreadable.

"You can tell me if it bothers you, you know. Being this close."

"It doesn't," she insisted, but he was already moving backwards, no longer looking at her.

"We should head back inside," he said quietly.

"Yeah, I'll be there in a minute," she agreed reluctantly, feeling shaken and unsure what had suddenly changed between them. He nodded once before disappearing into the theater quickly, almost as if he couldn't wait to get away from her, which only left her more confused and hurt.

Lingering on the balcony for a few more minutes didn't give her the motivation to return to the theater and watch the rest of the play, and she found her feet carrying her to the exit instead, making her way along the beach until she reached the shores near the royal house. Momo chirruped from where he was sitting between Appa's paws at the sight of her and she collapsed onto the sand beside the lemur, letting him climb into her lap as Appa grumbled and nuzzled the top of her head lightly.

"I'm okay, big guy," she murmured soothingly despite how she actually felt, rubbing his nose fondly to settle him down again.

She spent another half hour cuddling with Momo and Appa before the rest of the group returned, looking just as downtrodden and miserable as she herself felt. Clearly, the play hadn't ended on a pleasant note, and she vaguely wondered if the story had ended with the failed invasion or if it had continued on to predictions of the future.

Zuko walked straight past her into the house without meeting her eyes, which only stung more when she didn't understand why he was upset with her. Sokka was loudly complaining about the play with Suki and Toph as they headed inside, leaving Katara to trail after them while glancing at Rinzen with a concerned expression. The airbender waved her off, managing a smile, and Katara grimaced, not looking entirely mollified as she entered the house.

With a heavy sigh, Aang flopped down beside Rinzen, tossing the hat he had been using to hide the arrow on his forehead into the ocean.

"You're going to regret that," she warned him as she watched the tide take away the hat, although she doubted it; the hat had been pretty ugly, anyway.

"Love is hard," Aang said simply instead, dropping his head against her shoulder abruptly, and Rinzen cracked a wry smile.

"Yeah, you're telling me." She wrapped her arm around his shoulders, squeezing him close.

* * *

 **I knew writing so many chapters at a time wouldn't last. Writer's block hit pretty hard this time, but I managed to get this chapter out right before Halloween!**

 **I also know this chapter's a little shorter than the last few, but I wanted to keep The Ember Island Players relatively self-contained and short so that we can jump into the series finale (and the finale of this story) from here, but GOOD NEWS. THE STORY WON'T END HERE.**

 **I'm actually planning to do a sequel to this story following the post-show comics' canon, so I'm eager to focus on that soon!**

 **Hope you all enjoy this chapter in the meantime! Happy Halloween and hope you all get tons of your favorite candy! :D**


	15. The Quiet Before the Storm

**Chapter 15: The Quiet Before the Storm**

* * *

Maybe it was just that Rinzen had gotten used to Zuko's constant company, but now that he was avoiding her like the plague, she was lonelier than she could ever remember feeling in her life. She found excuses each day to remain on the beach away from the house and the courtyard, where Zuko trained Aang in firebending before switching over to sparring with Sokka, using his broadswords and Sokka's space sword.

Katara spent most of her time by the ocean practicing her waterbending, which meant that Rinzen's retreats to the beach didn't go unnoticed for very long.

"So what did Zuko do to hurt you and do I need to kill him for you?" Katara offered mildly as she flopped down into the sand beside Rinzen three days before Sozin's Comet was scheduled to arrive.

"Nothing, and please don't, you two only just became friends," Rinzen answered wearily, brushing some sand off the leg of her pants. She had abandoned the clothes she had "borrowed" from Azula's trunk in the attic the moment she could, returning to her Air Nomad clothes since no one from town ventured near the royal house. "He's just not talking to me. And I don't know what I did, either. The last time he was this mad at me was in Ba Sing Se."

Katara raised an eyebrow. "What happened then?"

Rinzen shrugged one shoulder. "At the time, I didn't know if I could trust him yet. He was walking me home one night and I didn't want to lead him right back to where we were staying, so I asked him to leave when we reached the upper ring. He got mad that I didn't trust him and wouldn't talk to me for a couple weeks."

"I mean, that's a little more reasonable," Katara agreed, pursing her lips thoughtfully. "Did you tell him that, though? That you were scared of Aang getting hurt?"

"Not really," Rinzen admitted and Katara rolled her eyes.

"Well, _there's_ your problem." She paused expectantly, waiting for Rinzen to understand, but Rinzen just stared back at her, bewildered. She sighed heavily before explaining, "It's the problem you've always had, Rin. You never tell anyone anything unless you're forced to. Of course he's going to assume the worst if he doesn't know what's going on in your head." She reached over to squeeze Rinzen's knee gently. "Talk to him, okay? If you're honest with him, things will work out."

"Yeah. Okay," Rinzen agreed reluctantly. It was easier said than done, though, and the thought of talking to Zuko when he clearly didn't want to spend even five minutes in the same room as her left her feeling incredibly anxious.

She was distracted when she saw the rest of the group coming down to the beach from the house, noticing with both relief and disappointment that Zuko wasn't with them.

Katara glanced up as well, raising her hand to wave at them, and Sokka waved back, calling loudly, "We're taking a break! We haven't even had a beach party yet in all the time we've been here!"

Katara grinned as she climbed to her feet. "That's fair," she agreed, "We could use the break from the training we've all been doing."

"I don't know," Rinzen protested as she got to her feet as well, dusting her clothes free of sand. "Shouldn't we be focusing on getting ready to face the Fire Lord?"

Aang groaned goodnaturedly as he reached her, elbowing her side gently. "Come on, Rin, when's the last time we all just hung out and had some fun without worrying about training?"

Rinzen grimaced, but she couldn't protest when everyone else seemed on board, so she just shrugged. "Okay. Fine. I guess a little while on the beach can't hurt."

Within minutes, she found herself roped into helping Aang construct a large sand sculpture of Appa. Toph was busy digging her feet into the sand and practicing her sandbending while Suki lay on the shore soaking in the warm sunlight. Sokka was busy with his own sand sculpture - he refused to tell anyone what it was, but Rinzen suspected it was some form of blob monster - and Katara was surfing on a self-made platform of ice that she periodically melted underneath her feet before reforming it just in time to land on it as she coasted over a wave.

"It's a good thing you can waterbend now or this would take forever," Rinzen informed Aang as she watched him bend a stream of water from the ocean towards them to dampen some sand before grabbing a clump to pat it into place.

"Tell me about it." He leaned over from where he was sitting on top of the sand-Appa's head, smiling down at her. "This is nice. We've never done anything like this together before."

"Yeah, it is pretty nice," she agreed, scooping up a shell from the sand and pressing it into the sculpture's snout as a makeshift nose.

"It's a shame Zuko's not here to enjoy it, too," Aang added and Rinzen narrowed her eyes back up at him.

"Stop that."

"What?" He blinked back at her, although she knew him well enough to know when he was playing innocent. "All I'm saying is that it'd be nice if he joined us."

"I'm not going to go get him, if that's what you're trying to hint at," she answered, focusing on molding a paw for the sand-Appa instead. "He doesn't want to be here, and I'm not going to make him join us."

Aang sighed heavily, flopping back against the sand-Appa's head and accidentally crumbling the horn he had been in the middle of molding. "You have to talk to him eventually, Rin."

"Yeah, yeah." She tossed a clump of sand back at him and he barely ducked in time to avoid it. "You're the one who wanted to get this sculpture done, so get back to work."

"So _bossy_ ," he complained goodnaturedly, but settled back down to start sculpting the sand again with a smile all the same.

Suddenly, Rinzen felt a flare of heat behind her and jumped back just in time to see a volley of fire destroy the sand sculpture they had been working on. Aang yelped as he fell off the sculpture, collapsing into the sand and scrambling to his feet. Rinzen looked up, following the trail of fire to Zuko standing on a higher ledge above them, his hands smoking and a scowl on his face. Rinzen felt a stab of panic for a moment at the serious expression on Zuko's face; had he decided to change sides yet again?

"What are you doing?!" Aang shouted and Zuko glared back at him.

"Teaching you a lesson!" He sent another blast of fire at Aang, who rolled out of the way and used a burst of air to push himself onto the ledge and run towards the house, Zuko taking off after him.

"What's going on?!" Katara demanded as she returned to the shore, Sokka, Toph, and Suki hurrying behind her.

"Zuko's apparently teaching Aang a lesson," Rinzen answered as she climbed up onto the ledge to follow Zuko and Aang back to the house. She felt a little relieved that Zuko was at least still on their side, despite how it must have looked to everyone else.

"Attacking him isn't a lesson," Sokka pointed out as he followed in Rinzen's lead.

"He could really hurt Aang," Katara added as she watched Aang leap onto the roof of the house from a nearby palm tree, Zuko jumping after him and sending another fireball at him.

"Aang can handle himself," Rinzen reassured her, although she could see the look of terror on Aang's face even as far away as she was from him as he slid off the roof and clambered into the house through an open window. Zuko broke a hole in the roof of the house before jumping down after Aang.

Only moments later, he was thrown out of the house by a whirlwind, skidding to a halt on the ground near the rest of the group and grimacing as he rubbed his head to stave off a bruise from the impact. Rinzen held a hand out and he hesitated before accepting it and letting her help him to his feet. She tried not to feel a pang of hurt when he released her hand like he had been burned as soon as he was upright.

"What's wrong with _you_?!" Katara snapped at him.

"What's wrong with _me_?" he retorted as Aang hurried out of the house to join them. "What's wrong with all of _you_?! You're out here having beach parties when Sozin's Comet is only three days away!" Everyone except Rinzen exchanged an uneasy look before turning to stare back at Zuko. "What? Why's everyone looking at me like I'm crazy?" he asked, frowning.

"About Sozin's Comet...I was actually gonna wait to fight the Fire Lord until after it came," Aang confessed.

"After?" Rinzen echoed. She had never heard of this plan before, and apparently, Zuko hadn't, either, from the shocked expression on his face.

"I'm not ready. I need more time to master firebending," Aang insisted as he looked back at her, biting his lip anxiously.

"Frankly, your earthbending could use a lot of work, too," Toph deadpanned and Aang grimaced slightly.

"You all knew Aang was going to wait?" Zuko said, glancing between all of them in bewilderment, and Rinzen raised her hands slightly in surrender when he glanced at her.

"Don't look at me, I had no idea. I'd've told you if I did."

"Yeah, because you're so great at telling people things," he muttered.

She blinked, taken aback and feeling like she had been punched in the stomach. "I'm sorry, do you have something to say to me?" He shrugged one shoulder, but didn't respond, avoiding looking at her.

" _What_ is going on between you two?" Aang burst out suddenly, frustrated.

"Yeah, I'd like to know that, too," Rinzen agreed, wishing she didn't sound as hurt as she did, and Zuko pressed his lips together firmly, ignoring her.

"In any case, the whole point of fighting the Fire Lord before the comet was to stop the Fire Nation from winning the war, but they pretty much won the war when they took Ba Sing Se. Things can't get any worse," Katara pointed out, effectively changing the subject, and Zuko shook his head as he glanced up at her.

"You're wrong. It's about to get much more worse than you could imagine." He scrubbed a hand through his hair, exhaling quietly. "The day before the eclipse, my father asked me to attend an important war meeting. It was what I dreamed about for so many years. My father had finally accepted me back." He hesitated before adding, "The war meeting was to plan the destruction of the Earth Kingdom. They're going to raze it all to the ground with the help of the comet's power, just like they destroyed the Air Nomads a hundred years ago." Rinzen felt icy shock flood through her at the thought. "I wanted to speak out against this horrible plan, but I'm ashamed to say that I didn't." Zuko stared at the ground, shuffling guiltily. "My whole life, I struggled to gain my father's love and acceptance, but once I had it, I realized I'd lost myself getting there. I'd forgotten who I was."

"I can't believe this," Katara whispered bleakly.

"I always knew the Fire Lord was a bad guy, but his plan is just evil," Sokka agreed bitterly.

"What do I do?" Aang said helplessly, sinking down to sit on a nearby rock, and Zuko closed the space between them to place a hand on Aang's shoulder.

"I know you're scared. But if you don't face the Fire Lord before the comet arrives, there won't be a world left to save anymore," he said quietly.

"Way to cheer him up," Sokka deadpanned as Aang shrugged Zuko's hand off his shoulder and got to his feet again, rubbing a hand over his face agitatedly.

"Why didn't you tell us about your dad's crazy plan sooner?" he demanded.

"Well, how was _I_ supposed to know you weren't going to fight him before the comet came? Nobody told _me_ you were planning to wait," Zuko pointed out dryly.

"This is awful," Aang bemoaned, but Katara stepped forward then, smiling reassuringly.

"You know you don't have to do this alone, Aang," she pointed out as she placed her hand on Aang's shoulder.

"We've all got a shot of taking him down if we work together," Toph agreed, sidling up to Aang to elbow his other side.

"Alright!" Sokka cheered. "Team Avatar is back!"

"For the last time, that name is never going to catch on," Rinzen sighed, but Aang was smiling as he nodded.

"Fighting the Fire Lord's probably the hardest thing we've ever had to do together, but I wouldn't want to do it any other way."

"Aww." Sokka drew Aang into a headlock, Katara, Toph, and Suki following in his lead and wrapping their arms around each other in a group hug. Aang peeked out from within the sea of arms expectantly at Rinzen and she rolled her eyes fondly before closing the space between them to slip one arm around Toph's shoulders and another around Aang's, nestling herself within the embrace.

"Get in here, Zuko," Katara added over Rinzen's head and Rinzen hid her grimace into Aang's shoulder. After what Zuko had said, she wasn't sure if he even wanted to be near her. "Being part of this team means being part of group hugs."

After a moment, Rinzen felt Zuko pressing in beside her, his hand resting gently on the small of her back as he was enveloped in the embrace as well. She lifted her head just enough to peek up at him, but felt a pang of hurt when she saw him carefully avoiding looking at her. Thankfully, the moment was effectively ruined as Appa lumbered over and knocked everyone off their feet by attempting to nose his way into the group hug.

"Oh, _gross_ , Appa," Sokka complained loudly as the bison attempted to lick all of them at once.

* * *

It was a relief to find a way to be included in training again, as Sokka set up an elaborate obstacle course to simulate their battle with the Fire Lord. He and Suki were tasked with drawing fire from the Fire Lord while Zuko, Katara, and Aang were on the offense, leaving Rinzen and Toph to collectively act as the Fire Lord, or more appropriately, "the Melon Lord," as Sokka declared as he placed a large melon on top of a headless mannequin.

"So all we have to do is chuck flaming rocks at them?" Toph asked excitedly upon hearing their task and Rinzen shook her head at the enthusiasm in the earthbender's voice.

"Try not to sound too happy at the thought of attacking our friends," she deadpanned as she focused on coating boulders in flammable grease while they waited for everyone else to set up.

"Come on, it's not every day we get to pretend to be the bad guy," Toph complained. "I wanna make it look like tiny comets raining from the sky!"

"Well, considering the angle we're at, that's not gonna happen," Rinzen pointed out dryly. "We'd need to be on a bigger cliff to get that much height and speed on these boulders."

Sokka mock-sniffled from a few feet away, where he was setting up a few bowls of fire for them to use to ignite the grease-coated boulders. "You're using actual physics. I've never been more proud of you, Rin." She obediently leaned over to high-five him with a small grin before taking the Melon Lord mannequin and seating it in front of the fortress she and Toph had built for themselves to act as the Melon Lord's forces.

"Just give us the signal when you guys are ready to start," she answered.

Sokka nodded as he climbed to his feet and headed for the starting point of the obstacle course, taking his place beside Suki and drawing his sword. Zuko and Katara stood just behind them, Katara keeping a hand on the waterskin at her hip readily, while Aang stood on the cliffside above them, his grip on his staff tight and his face pale with nerves. Rinzen felt a pang of sympathy for him, knowing it would be difficult for him to deliver a final blow to anyone, but knew that it was necessary to end the war once and for all.

"Is he giving us the signal yet?" Toph asked eagerly, already bouncing on the spot in her excitement.

"Not yet," Rinzen cautioned her, but then Sokka pointed his sword forward and he and Suki took off at a run. "Okay, _now_!"

Toph grinned wickedly as she nudged one of the boulders over the fire, igniting it before sending it flying. Rinzen enforced it with a burst of air so that the boulder landed right in front of Sokka and Suki. Suki leapt nimbly over the burning rock, somersaulting neatly back onto her feet before taking off at a run again to kick down a rock soldier Toph pulled up from the ground.

"Watch it, Toph!" Sokka shouted as he scrambled to his feet where he had fallen inches away from the flaming boulder.

"I am not Toph! I am _Melon Lord_!" Toph screeched back, cackling madly, and Rinzen rolled her eyes as she lit another boulder on fire for Toph to throw.

"You're getting way too into this," she scolded. Toph shrugged mildly before throwing the boulder at Zuko and Katara next, who dodged the boulder easily before taking on the group of rock soldiers Toph brought up from the ground to impede them. Katara threw out a whip of water to decapitate several of the soldiers while Zuko attacked the remaining ones with a wave of fire to disintegrate them.

"Now, Aang!" Sokka shouted and Rinzen looked up to see Aang leaping down from the ledge, raising his staff over his head with a determined expression on his face. Halfway down, his expression shifted into one of unease suddenly and he landed neatly in front of the Melon Lord mannequin, his staff inches away from the melon head.

"What're you waiting for?!" Zuko snapped at him as the rest of the group joined them. "Take him out!"

"I can't," Aang said helplessly.

"If this was the real deal, you'd be shot full of lightning right now," Sokka pointed out.

"I know," Aang answered in frustration. "But it just didn't feel right. I didn't feel like myself."

Sokka huffed angrily before slicing his sword through the melon, which fell in pieces onto the ground. "There. That's how it's done." Aang winced at the sight, shutting his eyes when Momo scrambled over to start licking at the melon juice that had spilled onto the ground.

Rinzen frowned as she climbed over the fortress, resting her hand on Aang's shoulder. "Maybe we should try again," she offered. "You might be able to do it this time."

"No. I'm done for today." He shrugged her hand off his shoulder and turned to head back to the house. Rinzen glanced back to find everyone looking at each other uneasily.

"He'll get there," she reassured them, but none of them looked convinced. Zuko still refused to meet her eyes.

* * *

"I have a surprise for everyone," Katara said, trying for a cheerful tone to clear the tension between everyone that night as they ate their dinner on the steps of the courtyard. She clutched a scroll in her hands, bouncing slightly on the spot in her eagerness to show them what it contained.

"I knew it!" Toph said as she sat up suddenly. "You _did_ have a secret thing for Haru!" Everyone stared at Toph, who didn't seem perturbed by the eyes on her.

"Uh, no," Katara said slowly, taken aback. "I was in the attic looking for cooking pots and I found this." She opened the scroll to reveal a painting of a chubby dark-haired baby on the beach, his smile wide and his eyes crinkled with laughter as he played with a pile of sand. "Look at baby Zuko! Isn't he cute?"

Aang, Sokka, and Suki giggled, but Rinzen noticed that Zuko's expression had grown stormy as he set his bowl down. "That's not me," he said quietly. "That's my father."

The revelation effectively killed the mood as Katara closed the scroll again, looking unnerved. "But he looked so sweet and innocent," she said.

"Well, that sweet and innocent kid grew up into a monster," Zuko snapped back. "And the worst father in the history of fathers."

"He's still a human being, though," Aang said suddenly, getting to his feet, and Zuko turned to glare at him.

"You're seriously defending him?"

"Of course not. I agree with you," Aang reassured him. "Fire Lord Ozai is a horrible person, and the world would probably be better off without him, but there's got to be another way to defeat him other than taking his life."

"Like what?" Zuko raised an eyebrow expectantly and Aang wrinkled his nose in thought.

"Maybe we can make some big pots of glue, and then I can use gluebending to stick his arms and legs together so he can't bend anymore," he suggested after a moment and Sokka snickered at the idea.

"Yeah, and maybe we can show him his baby picture and all those happy memories will make him good again," Zuko answered sarcastically.

"You think that'll work?" Aang said hopefully and Zuko scowled back at him.

" _No_."

"This goes against everything I learned from the monks," Aang sighed as he began to pace. "I can't just go around wiping out people I don't like."

"Sure you can," Sokka piped up, smirking. "I'm sure the universe would forgive you if it's in the name of keeping balance."

"This isn't a joke!" Aang burst out, wheeling around to glare at him, and the grin on Sokka's face vanished immediately. "None of you understand the position I'm in!"

"Of course we do," Rinzen said quietly as she sat up slightly against the pillar she was leaning against. "But-"

"But _what_?" Aang glowered at her, surprising her with the intensity of his anger. "Of all people, Rin, I thought _you'd_ get it, being raised by the monks!"

"I wasn't raised the way you were, Aang," she pointed out. "Yes, I was taught that all life is sacred, but I was also taught to do what was necessary to keep you safe."

"So, what, you'd kill someone for me?" Aang's expression shifted into horror at the thought and Rinzen grimaced.

"If there was no other way around it, then...yeah. I would." The moment she said it, she wished she hadn't as he turned away from her, unable to look at her.

"We're just trying to help," Katara offered pleadingly, trying to calm Aang down, but he shook his head.

"Then when any of you figure out a way to beat the Fire Lord without taking his life, I'd love to hear it," he said bitterly as he stormed into the house.

"Don't walk away from this, Aang," Katara called desperately after him, but Zuko got to his feet, grabbing her wrist to keep her from hurrying after him.

"Let him go, he needs to resolve this on his own," he cautioned her. With a heavy sigh, Katara gave up, helping Rinzen clear up the empty bowls after their dinner.

"You said the right thing," she reassured Rinzen, catching the expression on her face. "He needed to hear that."

"Did he?" Rinzen answered quietly as she stacked the bowls for Katara to begin washing. "Because all I think I did was convince him that I'm a terrible Air Nomad."

"You're not," Katara insisted. "You were just raised differently than he was."

"Yeah, which means I was raised as a terrible Air Nomad," Rinzen pointed out dryly, surprised at how much the realization hurt as her eyes stung sharply. She dabbed at her eyes quickly before Katara could see, but a quiet shuffling made her look up to see Zuko lingering in the doorway to the courtyard. Silently, he tilted his head towards the beach, and she nodded back, startled that he was even acknowledging her. He turned and disappeared down the path to the beach and Rinzen looked back to find Katara watching her with a small smile.

"Go ahead and talk to him. I'll finish cleaning up." She squeezed Rinzen's hand briefly. "Don't beat yourself up too much."

Rinzen managed a weak smile back at her. "Thanks." She set the bowls in her hands down before following Zuko down to the beach, finding him sitting at the edge of the water with his knees drawn up to his chest and his arms wrapped around his knees. He glanced up at her when he heard her footsteps, managing a tiny smile as she sat down beside him.

"Hey."

"Hi." She drew her knees to her chest, imitating him as she kept her eyes fixed on the rolling ocean waves in the distance.

"I'm sorry," he said quietly after a moment, startling her into looking back up at him. "I've been overthinking some stuff lately, and I shouldn't've taken it out on you."

"Like what?" she asked, bewildered.

"Like...I don't know." He scrubbed his hand over his face, attempting to gather his thoughts. "Like when we were on the balcony of the theater the other night, and you were just...looking at me weird. And I couldn't tell what you were thinking, and at the time, I assumed you didn't want me so close to you."

"That's not-" she began to protest.

"I know it's not what you were thinking," he reassured her quickly. "But even now, I don't know _what_ you were actually thinking. You're not as easy to read as you seem to think you are. And when you look at me like that, it's just - I don't know what you want from me." He dropped his gaze away from her, focusing on the sand between them.

"You really should know by now that I'm the worst at talking about what's on my mind," she pointed out and he glanced back up at her, cracking a smile.

"Yeah, I've noticed. Not like I'm much better at it myself." He covered her hand with his own, squeezing her fingers gently. "But we've got plenty of other things that are complicated in our lives. This - you and me - shouldn't have to be one of them."

"I know." She hesitated before shuffling closer, nestling her head against his shoulder, and he readily slipped his arm around her shoulders. "I'm sorry."

"It's okay. You need more time to sort things out, I know that." He pressed his cheek against the top of her head and she curled into his side, soaking in his warmth. "Sorry I lost my temper."

"It's fine, I'm used to that by now," she teased back and he huffed a chuckle, elbowing her lightly as she nudged him back with a grin. "So are we okay?"

"I hope so, because avoiding you is awful." Zuko pulled back enough to give her a wry smile. "You looked like a kicked turtle-duck every time I left the room."

"Shut up, I did not." She shoved him away from her, rolling her eyes, but his expression was soft and fond as he climbed to his feet, grasping her hands to help her up as well.

"Come on, we should get some rest if we're going to start heading for the edge of the Earth Kingdom tomorrow before the comet arrives."

"Yeah, okay." She glanced up at the sight of a flickering light near the top of the house, recognizing Aang meditating on the balcony with a few candles laid out in front of him, and Zuko followed her gaze before frowning.

"Leave him alone," he cautioned. "He needs to figure it out himself."

"If you say so," she conceded reluctantly, allowing him to lead her back into the house. She figured she could wait to talk to Aang in the morning before they left for the Earth Kingdom and hoped that he would make a decision on how to defeat Fire Lord Ozai by then.

* * *

 **Dun dun dun.**

 **Also, no, I couldn't have Rin and Zuko fighting for very long, especially considering they're about to go into the final battle. The fluff just kind of wrote itself near the end. ;A;**

 **Hope you enjoyed the chapter!**


	16. The White Lotus

**Chapter 16: The White Lotus**

* * *

"Okay, I think that's everything," Sokka said as he tied down the last bag to Appa's saddle.

"Really?" Rinzen deadpanned, glancing around to make her point. "Because I'm pretty sure we're missing a crucial part of the plan."

"Rin's right, where's Aang?" Katara agreed, frowning worriedly. "I thought one of you would know where he was."

"We haven't seen him since last night," Zuko pointed out.

"Don't tell me he ran away _again_ ," Toph complained, storming towards the house and bracing herself on the doorway as she leaned inside. "Get out here or I'll make sure you regret it, Twinkletoes!" she bellowed and Rinzen winced as she covered her ears. Even after she'd known Toph for so long, she was still surprised by how loud such a tiny girl could be.

"I don't think he's in the house," Zuko said after waiting a few moments to give Aang time to respond. "Maybe we should check the beach?"

"I'll check where he was meditating in the meantime," Rinzen agreed. "Maybe he left a note or something for us." She headed into the house and up to the balcony where Aang had been meditating the previous night, finding the candles he had lit abandoned and snuffed out. His glider lay beside the candles, but there was no note or any sign of where he could have gone. She picked up the staff and turned it over in her hands slowly, wondering why Aang would have gone anywhere without taking his staff with him.

Looking over the railing, she could see the rest of the group on the beach, scanning the area for any sign of Aang. She hopped down from the balcony, cushioning her landing with a small burst of air at her feet so that she dropped to the sand carefully before making her way across the beach to the edge of the water.

"Any luck?" Zuko asked, noticing her approach, and she held up Aang's glider.

"No note. And he left his staff behind. I can't imagine why he'd do that if he was going somewhere."

"Over here!" Sokka called from further down the beach and Rinzen and Zuko joined him and the rest of the group to find them studying a set of footprints leading down to the water. "They just stop here," Sokka said, pointing to where the tide was washing away the footprints.

"He can't have just walked into the water and disappeared," Rinzen said worriedly as she glanced out at the horizon, trying to wrack her brain over what could have possibly happened to her brother.

"He can't have gone that far if he didn't take Appa or his glider with him," Katara reassured her. "And I'm sure he's not in the Spirit World because his body's not here and Momo's missing, too. They're probably somewhere on the island together."

Toph immediately latched onto Zuko's arm. "I'm going with Zuko!" Startled, Zuko flushed bright red, and everyone else stared at Toph. "What?" she asked defensively, sensing their eyes on her. "Everyone else got a field trip with him. Now it's my turn!"

Rinzen rolled her eyes, unable to help a smile despite her worry. "Sokka and I can search from the sky on Appa and my glider," she offered.

"Katara and I can check town on the west side," Suki added.

"I guess we'll keep looking on the eastern beach," Zuko agreed, glancing down at Toph again warily, and the group split up from there as Rinzen followed Sokka over to Appa, who was shifting anxiously in the courtyard of the beach house.

"I know, buddy, I'm worried about him, too," she murmured soothingly, rubbing the bison's nose gently before securing Aang's glider with their belongings so that she could return it to him when they found him.

"He's probably fine," Sokka reassured her as he climbed onto Appa's head, patting one of Appa's horns gently before taking the reins. "I'm sure we'll find him before the comet arrives tomorrow."

"We should probably start working on a Plan B just in case, though," Rinzen answered as she snapped open her glider. "You take the south, I'll take the north?"

"Sounds like a plan." Sokka snapped Appa's reins gently. "Yip-yip." Appa grumbled as he lifted himself into the air and Sokka guided him towards the southern part of Ember Island.

Rinzen pushed herself off the ground as well with a burst of air, soaring towards the northern tip of the island and scanning the ground below for any sign of Aang. It was a relief that the residents of Ember Island never looked up at the skies, making it easy for Rinzen to search the island from above without needing to hide within the thick layer of gray clouds starting to roll in with the promise of a summer thunderstorm.

"Did you find him?" Katara asked worriedly as Rinzen landed in the courtyard of the royal house again just as the first drops of rain began to fall, cold despite the humid air around them.

"We looked all over town and couldn't find him anywhere," Suki added. Appa landed in the courtyard only moments after and Sokka slid off his head, joining them near the steps and placing his arm around Suki's shoulders almost instinctively as she leaned into his side.

"I didn't see him from the northern skies," Rinzen admitted as she closed her glider. "Sokka, please tell me you got something." Sokka shook his head as Zuko and Toph trudged up from the beach to join them. Rinzen exhaled wearily when she noticed the defeated expressions on their faces. "I'm gonna go ahead and guess you two didn't find anything."

Zuko shrugged helplessly. "Sorry." When everyone remained silent, staring at him, he blinked back at them, bewildered. "What?"

"Well, you're the expert on tracking Aang," Toph pointed out dryly. "If anyone would know how to find him, it's you."

Zuko pursed his lips in thought. "I guess I've got one idea," he conceded, glancing at Rinzen. "Do you remember that bounty hunter we met once? Jun?"

"You think she can help?" she asked, surprised. She hadn't thought much of Jun since they had parted ways with her shortly after she had failed to help Zuko capture Aang all those months ago.

"Her shirshu's supposed to be able to track anyone as long as it has their scent," Zuko reminded her. "She lives on the west coast of the Earth Kingdom. We need to hurry if we want to find her by tonight."

Rinzen glanced around to find everyone watching her expectantly for her decision before sighing and nodding. "Yeah. Okay, let's go."

They all climbed onto Appa quickly to take off, Zuko settling in beside Rinzen on Appa's head as she guided the bison to begin flying towards the western coast of the Earth Kingdom. The journey across the ocean, even at Appa's fastest speed, would take the entire day, which only ate up more of their precious time to find Aang before the comet was scheduled to arrive.

As they flew, sheets of rain began to cascade around them as Katara bent the water to form a makeshift shield against the storm. Appa grumbled nervously as lightning forked across the dark clouds over their heads and thunder boomed shortly afterwards, echoing around them ominously.

"Easy, big guy," Rinzen murmured soothingly, stroking Appa's fur to calm him again when he began to slow down slightly, unnerved by the storm. "Just keep flying, the storm will pass soon." She glanced up at Zuko to find him carding his fingers through Appa's fur absently as well, his eyebrows furrowed pensively. "Copper piece for your thoughts?" she offered.

"Just working on more backup plans." He chewed his lip, deliberating for a moment before admitting, "I think we should try to find my uncle."

"Do you think we can?" Rinzen looked over her shoulder to find Katara, Sokka, Suki, and Toph engrossed in their own conversation, not listening to them.

"He's the only one who might have the power to take on my father if we can't find Aang," Zuko answered, drawing her attention back to him. "I know it's a long shot, but we don't have many other options here."

"I know." She smoothed down Appa's fur again, scratching near his ear and feeling it flick back towards her hand instinctively as he picked up a little speed again, encouraged again by the affection she was giving him. "Okay. If we can't find Aang, we'll look for your uncle."

* * *

It was just past dusk by the time they landed outside the tavern Zuko, Iroh, and Rinzen had first followed Jun to after she had destroyed their ship to recapture a runaway who had stowed aboard their ship. Rinzen could already smell the strong, stale scent of alcohol hanging in the air around the tavern as she slid off Appa's head, patting the bison's side as he lay down to rest.

"Good job, buddy," she praised him fondly as the rest of the group followed suit to climb off Appa.

"You go ahead and get him some food," Katara reassured her. "We'll find Jun and bring her out here."

"Sounds like a plan." Rinzen watched them disappear inside, Zuko leading the way, before going around the tavern to the barn around the back, hoping to grab some hay that she could feed Appa with.

A hissing sound from the back of the barn made her jump back in alarm just in time to avoid a long, forked tongue lashing out at her from the dark.

"Hey!" she scolded when she recognized Jun's shirshu's furry outline in the back of the barn. "Relax, will you? It's me, you know me." The shirshu paused, snuffling at the air to get Rinzen's scent, before shuffling forward to push her long snout up against Rinzen's hands eagerly. Rinzen recalled that the shirshu had taken a liking to her even when they had first met, much to Jun's surprise.

"She doesn't usually like anybody other than me," she had said, raising an eyebrow even as the shirshu had knocked Rinzen to the ground and nuzzled her affectionately, tickling her and making her laugh even as Zuko had rolled his eyes in the background.

"Come on, girl," Rinzen crooned as she came back to the present, ushering the shirshu out of the barn. "I'm gonna grab some hay for Appa real quick and then I'll give you all the pets you want." The shirshu hissed again, but seemed somewhat mollified as she shuffled aside to let Rinzen gather a few bales of hay and carry them out front.

Appa climbed laboriously to his feet when he noticed the shirshu behind Rinzen, baring his teeth at her with a growl, and Rinzen knew he remembered the shirshu's paralyzing tongue and how it had lashed out at him, incapacitating him with only a few licks.

"Be nice," she warned and Appa huffed before nosing briefly at the shirshu in apology and then settling down to eat the hay Rinzen had brought him.

"I see Nyla still remembers you, Arrows," a silky voice said from behind Rinzen and she turned to see Jun emerging from the bar, her whip twisted around her hands and an amused smirk on her painted lips. The rest of the group followed behind her, gaping at the scene in front of them.

"I can't believe that thing actually likes you," Sokka said, impressed, and Rinzen shrugged modestly.

"I have a way with animals, what can I say?" She patted the top of Nyla's head and the shirshu snuffled happily as she nuzzled into Rinzen's side.

Zuko shook his head fondly as he made his way to Appa's saddle. "Rin, do we still have Aang's glider here?"

"Yeah, it should be tied down next to my bag," Rinzen answered as she continued to scratch underneath Nyla's chin and the shirshu tilted her head back, delighted by the attention she was receiving.

"You're spoiling her," Jun complained. "She was grumpy with me for not petting her as much for weeks after the last time she met you."

"Well, maybe you ought to pet her more, then," Rinzen deadpanned in return, patting Nyla's snout one last time before reluctantly letting go of her as Zuko came back with Aang's staff.

"It's nice that you two kissed and made up, though," Jun added absently as she glanced between Rinzen and Zuko. "You were so snippy with each other last time, I was worried you were in the middle of a lover's quarrel."

"A _what_?" Rinzen echoed, startled, and Zuko made an odd choking noise.

"It's - that's not - we're not like that!" he protested, flustered.

"Hm. If you say so." Jun looked unconvinced as she took the glider out of Zuko's hands and held it out to Nyla. Nyla craned her head towards the new scent, sniffing at the glider before lifting her head up to snuffle at the sky. After a few moments of struggling, she pushed herself up onto her hind legs, straining to catch the scent in the night air, before dropping back to the ground and whimpering as she covered her nose with her paws.

"What's wrong with her?" Suki asked, bewildered.

"Means she can't find his scent," Jun answered simply as she tossed the glider easily back to Zuko, who caught it carefully. "Sorry, Arrows. Your brother's gone."

"Gone?" Rinzen felt cold dread settle in the pit of her stomach as she knelt beside Nyla to stroke the shirshu's fur and calm her down. "Like, dead or something?"

"No, we'd be able to find his body if he was dead," Jun reassured her, which wasn't all that reassuring. "I mean that he's _gone_. As in, he doesn't exist."

"Doesn't exist?" Katara echoed, stunned. "But what's that supposed to mean?"

"No idea. Gee, it's a real head-scratcher." Whatever emotional investment Jun had in their predicament had clearly run its course as she shrugged her tattooed shoulder. "Well, good luck with whatever you guys are doing. Nyla, up!" She snapped her whip and Nyla grumbled as she climbed to her feet, accepting one last scratch from Rinzen.

"Wait," Zuko said suddenly as he hurried back to his bag, rummaging through it before coming up with a sandal. "There's one more person you can try finding. My uncle Iroh."

"You kept your uncle's smelly old sandal in your bag all this time?" Sokka demanded, pinching his nose and leaning away from Zuko slightly, and Zuko shrugged self-consciously.

"Hey, it's coming in handy now, isn't it?" He held the sandal out to Nyla, who sniffed briefly at it before lifting her head and howling at the sky as she pawed at the earth with one foreleg.

"What does that mean?" Toph asked, clapping her hands over her ears to muffle the sound.

"It means she's got his scent." Jun swung herself onto Nyla's back. "Let's go. You can all follow on the big fuzzy guy." She nodded to Appa, who was already shuffling anxiously in his eagerness to fly again.

"Come on." Zuko ushered everyone into Appa's saddle and Rinzen climbed onto Appa's head beside him, snapping the reins with a quick "yip-yip" to get him into the air. Jun snapped her whip and Nyla took off at a gallop, darting through the forest as Appa flew overhead, following the shirshu's path through the trees and then out over the open fields.

The wind ruffled through Rinzen's hair, cooler after the storm that had passed over them earlier, and she found herself soothed slightly now that she knew they were going to find Iroh. At least one thing seemed to be going right for them now. She glanced over at Zuko to find him staring intently at his own hands, his expression far away.

"You okay?" she asked and he looked up, managing a tiny smile.

"Yeah. Just...nervous, I guess." He dropped his gaze back down to his hands. "I don't know what my uncle will say to me. What if he doesn't even want to see me?"

"You're talking about the same uncle who's never given up on you once this whole time, right?" Rinzen pointed out dryly.

"That was before I had you both thrown in jail," Zuko answered bitterly, biting his lip as he fiddled with his fingers. "What I did to you and Uncle Iroh was unforgivable."

"Hey." Rinzen reached out, covering his hands with hers, and he looked up, his expression startlingly open and vulnerable. "I've got at least two reasons why you're being really stupid right now. One, Iroh loves you more than anything. I've seen it first-hand. There's nothing you could do to change that." Zuko remained silent, dropping his gaze to their intertwined hands and lacing their fingers together without answering. "And two, I forgave you, didn't I?" she added and he huffed a wry chuckle.

"I still don't think you should have, but sure."

She rolled her eyes, twisting one of her hands in his hold so that she could pinch the skin between his thumb and forefinger hard. He winced slightly even as she answered sharply, "You've more than earned my forgiveness, so stop that. No more putting yourself down, no more self-imposed punishments because you think you're not worth anything, because you're worth a lot. Okay?"

When she looked back up at him, she found him staring back at her, wide-eyed and looking vaguely like she had hit him over the head with a heavy brick. "Yeah. Okay." A small smile tugged at his lips. "Thanks."

"Yeah, anytime." She reluctantly let go of his hands before settling in against his side. He slid his arm around her shoulders, tugging her in closer, and she curled into his warmth to shield herself against the chilly night air rushing past them.

"Jeez, no wonder that Jun lady thinks you two are a thing," Sokka said abruptly as he peered over the edge of the saddle, breaking the comfortable silence.

"Shut up, Sokka," Zuko and Rinzen retorted simultaneously even as Suki elbowed Sokka hard in the ribs, making him yelp slightly.

* * *

They flew through the night as Jun and Nyla raced across the land below, each of them falling asleep one by one as time went on. Rinzen and Zuko stayed awake the longest, but eventually, Zuko began to nod off slowly and Rinzen only noticed he had fallen asleep when she felt him lean heavily into her side, already mostly unconscious as his head nestled against her shoulder.

Unable to work up the nerve to shake him awake again when he was so exhausted, Rinzen settled for pressing her cheek against the top of his head, letting him sleep as she kept guiding Appa to follow Nyla. She was used to sleepless nights, but her worry over the impending comet and Aang's disappearance had drained her to the point where her eyes burned with exhaustion by the time Nyla finally stopped running at the edge of a giant crumbled stone wall.

It was just as Appa's feet touched the ground that Rinzen realized where they were: at the outermost wall of Ba Sing Se, which had been destroyed when the Fire Nation had taken over the city. As Nyla began to whine and dig through the rubble left by the ruined wall, the others awoke and began to climb off Appa's saddle, but Zuko remained fast asleep against Rinzen's shoulder. She couldn't help but smile as she brushed her fingers through his hair briefly, making him stir slightly.

"Hey," she murmured to avoid startling him. "We're here."

"Here?" he echoed, his voice thick with sleep as he stifled a yawn and sat up, peering around them as he recognized where they were. "My uncle's here in Ba Sing Se?"

"Well, Nyla's getting particularly twitchy, so he must be nearby," Jun offered as she climbed off Nyla's back and patted the shirshu's side fondly before grabbing her reins to tug her away from the rubble. "This is where I'm out. Good luck." She mock-saluted them before swinging herself back onto Nyla's back and cracking her whip. Nyla took off at a run and soon she and the bounty hunter disappeared into the forest treeline in the distance.

"We should set up camp," Sokka suggested wearily as he patted Appa's side in gratitude for the long flight, the bison turning slightly to nuzzle him in return. "It'll help if we're better-rested so we can keep looking for your uncle in the morning."

Zuko pursed his lips, clearly about to protest, but then had to stifle another yawn. "Yeah, okay," he conceded, sliding off Appa's head to help Sokka unload the group's sleeping bags onto the ground.

Rinzen slid off Appa's head as well, settling in to sleep against one of his front paws as he lay down beside her. She was only half-aware of Zuko making his way back over and laying down beside her once everyone else was settled in, his arm winding around her and his chin resting against the top of her head, and she curled instinctively back in against him, pressing her nose into the hollow of his throat. Even after a long day of travel, he still smelled faintly of smoke and incense, and she vaguely wondered if he just meditated with incense so often that the scent had ingrained itself into his clothing permanently.

"Still awake?" he murmured, keeping his voice low to avoid waking the others and drawing her out of her thoughts.

"Barely," she mumbled back, "You make it pretty hard to stay awake when you run warmer than an incense burner. You're too cozy, it's a real problem."

He huffed a soft laugh, ducking his head to press his cheek against her hair. "Yeah, it's one of the curses of being a firebender." She felt his free hand come up and brush a few strands of hair out of her face for her, his palm warm and rough against her skin as it slid around to tangle loosely in her hair and cradle the back of her head. "Sorry I made you stay awake all night to fly Appa."

"'S okay," she answered, muffling a yawn against his collarbone. "You looked like you needed the rest."

He hummed consideringly for a moment before falling silent. Rinzen thought for a moment that he had fallen asleep, but then he tilted his head to press his lips softly against her hairline. She felt her heart jump at the brief kiss, pounding erratically in her throat, and was sure he had felt it, too, with how closely they were tangled, but he said nothing, and his breathing soon evened out as he dozed off, his grip slackening slightly around her waist. It took a few moments for Rinzen to calm her racing heart down, but soon enough, she was fast asleep as well, enveloped in warmth.

* * *

She awoke with a start to the trembling of the earth below them, jolting upright almost at the same time as Zuko just in time to see Toph's rock tent crumbling to dust as she rolled to her feet.

"Something big's coming!" she cried out as Katara, Suki, and Sokka clambered out of their sleeping bags, rubbing at their eyes to make themselves more alert even as a large circle of fire began to surround the group. Rinzen rolled to her feet as Zuko did the same, Appa grumbling nervously behind them as a large stream of water, nearly a pond's worth, encircled them and forced them to huddle in towards the center.

Finally, several platforms of rock rose above the wall of flames, the figures who had ambushed them standing on them and towering over the group of teenagers. Rinzen glanced around to see Zuko, Toph, and Suki looking wary, but to her confusion, Katara and Sokka seemed delighted to see their attackers.

"Well, look who it is," an old man dressed in Earth Kingdom robes cackled, snorting between giggles. He was very clearly muscular despite his hunched appearance, and one of his eyes was smaller than the other. It took Rinzen several moments before recognition dawned on her.

"Bumi?" She hadn't seen Aang's friend from Omashu in years, not since Aang had once brought Bumi to the Southern Air Temple to visit.

"Ah, Rinzen, you haven't changed a bit. Literally," Bumi said cheerfully, winking back at her.

"You know him?" Zuko muttered under his breath so that only Rinzen could hear.

"He's Aang's friend," she reassured him before peering at the other three strangers and then realizing that one of them wasn't even a stranger at all; it was Katara and Aang's waterbending master, Pakku, whom Rinzen had met after the Fire Nation siege at the North Pole.

"Why are we surrounded by old people?" Toph asked plaintively as the walls of fire and water lowered around them, leaving them free to approach the four elderly men as the rock platforms lowered to ground-level.

"Not just any old people," Katara clarified. "These are great masters and friends of ours." She bowed respectfully to Pakku, beaming. "It's good to see you, Master Pakku."

"It's respectful to bow to your old master, yes," Pakku praised her as he bowed back to her. "But how about a hug instead, for your new grandfather?" He held out his arms, smiling faintly.

Katara froze, stunned, before beaming and rushing in to hug Pakku tightly. "That's amazing! I'm so glad you and Gran-Gran found each other again, you both must be so happy."

"I made her a new betrothal necklace and everything," Pakku confirmed.

"Welcome to the family, Gramp-Gramp!" Sokka crowed, going in for a hug of his own, but Pakku side-stepped him, wrinkling his nose.

"Um, you can still just call me Pakku."

"Gran-Pakku?" Sokka offered instead and Pakku only shook his head, causing Sokka to deflate slightly.

"Zuko, this is Aang's first firebending master," Katara added, gesturing to the elderly man standing just behind Pakku. Two thin scars ran down the side of the man's face from his temple to his cheek, but he smiled politely as he and Zuko bowed to each other.

"Jeong Jeong," he introduced himself, his voice gruff, but kind.

"Master Piandao," Sokka greeted the last man, bowing to his former swordmaster.

"Hello, Sokka. I hope you've been practicing." He nodded approvingly when Sokka patted the space sword sheathed on his back as wordless proof that he still had it.

"Wait, so how do you all know each other?" Suki demanded, bewildered.

"All old people know each other, obviously," Bumi giggled.

"We're all part of the same ancient secret society. A group that transcends the divisions of the four nations," Piandao explained.

"The Order of the White Lotus," Zuko said, smiling knowingly.

"That's the one," Bumi confirmed.

"The White Lotus has always been about philosophy and beauty and truth," Jeong Jeong added, "But about a month ago, a call went out that we were needed for something important."

"It came from a Grand Lotus," Pakku said, glancing at Zuko. "Your uncle, Iroh of the Fire Nation." Zuko smiled broadly, relieved.

"That's who we're looking for," Rinzen answered. "We need to talk to Iroh before the comet arrives."

"Then we'll take you to him," Bumi decided, but then frowned. "Wait a minute. Someone very important is missing from your group." He made a show of looking at each of them in turn. "Where's Momo?" he demanded at last.

Nonplussed, Rinzen glanced at Katara and Sokka, who both shrugged helplessly, and Sokka twirled his finger next to his head in the universal "he's crazy" sign. Katara elbowed him, but then thought better of it and nodded in agreement.

"Uh, he's missing," Rinzen said nervously when she turned back around to find Bumi's unnervingly-large green eyes fixed on her expectantly. "And so is Aang."

"Oh, well, so long as they have each other, there's nothing to worry about," he said sagely, patting her shoulder reassuringly before promptly launching himself into the air with a platform of rock, cackling as he leapt away. The other three masters sighed wearily, muttering to themselves as they began to follow Bumi on foot, and the teenagers scrambled to pack their sleeping bags again and follow them.

"I can't believe it," Zuko said as he and Rinzen took Appa's reins, ushering the bison along as Katara and Sokka walked ahead with Pakku, chatting with him about their home in the South Pole, and Suki and Toph struck up conversations with Jeong Jeong and Piandao. "My uncle's been here in Ba Sing Se all this time."

"Well, they always say the things you lose are in the last place you'd think to look," Rinzen answered wryly, unable to help a smile in the face of how happy Zuko appeared at the thought of getting to see his uncle again. "How'd you know about the White Lotus, anyway?"

"Do you remember when we met those pirates, back when I was still chasing Aang to the North Pole?"

Rinzen frowned. "You mean that time you had me tied to a tree to keep me from warning Aang to run? I'm still waiting on an apology for that."

"Okay, fine, I'm sorry for having you tied to a tree," Zuko said dismissively, waving it off. "Nice to know you're more upset about that than being thrown in jail. Anyway, not what I wanted you to take away from that. What were we in the market that day for?"

"We were looking for a replacement Pai Sho tile for your uncle, a-" She broke off as she remembered the tile that Iroh had thought he had lost, but then had found in his sleeve the very next day. "-a white lotus tile," she finished as realization dawned on her.

"Yeah. I didn't get it at the time, I thought he was just being difficult." Zuko rubbed Appa's nose when the bison grumbled tiredly before continuing to coax him forward, and Rinzen felt a rush of fondness towards him for treating Appa so gently. "But then we were in the desert without any way to get to Ba Sing Se, and my uncle found another member of the White Lotus to smuggle us out of the desert and to the Serpent's Pass ferry."

"So you knew about this secret society all this time?" Rinzen asked, surprised.

"Well, I had an idea of it, anyway," Zuko admitted, shrugging one shoulder. "Didn't really know what it was about at the time, all I knew was that they liked Pai Sho a lot."

"Hey, maybe that means I'll fit in with them, too," Rinzen mused, making Zuko snort with laughter as they reached another outer wall, which Bumi lowered with a flick of his wrist.

"Well, here we are," he announced, gesturing to the array of tents in front of them. Some still had fires lit in front of them, where several older men and women were gathered around. "Welcome to Old People Camp," Bumi added with a giggle.

Zuko hesitated, glancing at Piandao, who knew immediately what he was going to ask. "Your uncle is in there, Prince Zuko." He pointed to a large tent nearby, dark blue with the white lotus symbol embroidered on the outside flap. Zuko bit his lip before releasing Appa's reins and making his way to the tent, but stopped just outside it, as if some invisible force had grabbed hold of his feet and rooted him to the spot.

Rinzen glanced around, finding that Katara, Sokka, Suki, and Toph had settled in to keep catching up with the other old masters, before making her way to Zuko's side, slipping her hand into his and lacing their fingers together. He started, as if he had been so engrossed in his own thoughts that he hadn't heard her approach.

"What're you waiting for?" she prompted.

"I-" He swallowed audibly. "He's going to hate me."

"We talked about this," she reminded him. He shook his head as he dropped his gaze away from her, but not before she could see just how miserable and ashamed his expression was.

"He loved and supported me in every way he could, and I still turned against him. I don't even know how I can face him."

"Hey." She reached up, pressing her hand gently to his cheek and forcing him to look back up at her. "Are you sorry for that?"

"More sorry than I've ever been about anything in my life," he affirmed earnestly.

"Then he'll forgive you. He will." She shoved his shoulder gently. "Now go on before I push you into that tent myself. I'll see you in the morning once you two finish talking." A small smile tugged at his lips before he reluctantly let go of her hand and slipped into the tent. Rinzen made her way back over to where Katara, Sokka, Suki, and Toph were gathered around a fire.

"You two have been awfully cuddly today," Suki noted absently, smirking at Rinzen, who rolled her eyes as she extended a leg to kick at the other girl.

"Shut up."

"Ooh, you and _Zuko_ ," Sokka and Toph chorused with glee, delighted to have a chance to tease Rinzen again.

"Not nearly the same ring to it as Lee, is it?" Katara sighed, but grinned back at Rinzen, who only glowered at her.

"You're all the worst, why do I even keep you around as friends?"

"Because you love us," Toph said easily, punching Rinzen's shoulder even as Rinzen winced slightly.

* * *

 **FINALLY. I've been struggling with writer's block for the past month, but I finally managed to get this out right before the holidays. Happy holidays to everyone who celebrates something this season!**

 **I'm really excited to get into the finale of this show. Hopefully I'll get the next chapter out after the new year begins.**

 **Hope you enjoyed this chapter!**


	17. The Final Agni Kai

**Chapter 17: The Final Agni Kai**

* * *

Rinzen didn't know when she and the others had all fallen asleep curled up together, but she recognized Zuko's voice nearby when she stirred, rubbing the sleep from her eyes as she opened them to find him and Iroh seated around a campfire nearby. She was relieved to see them both smiling, Iroh with his arm around Zuko's shoulders and Zuko leaning slightly into his uncle's embrace.

Noticing her eyes on them, Iroh looked over, smiling broadly and waving her over. She carefully climbed to her feet to avoid waking Katara, who had fallen asleep beside her, and made her way to Iroh's other side, wrapping her arms around him tightly.

"It's so good to see you again, Rinzen," he said warmly as he wrapped his free arm around her in return, still holding onto his nephew with his other arm.

"I missed you," she admitted, burying her face briefly into Iroh's shoulder. "I'm so glad you're safe."

Iroh had clearly lost a lot of weight while in prison and had replaced it with lean muscle instead, leaving him no longer a portly old man, but someone much more like what she imagined the Dragon of the West in his prime must have looked like. His embrace was the same, though, gentle and fatherly in a way that reminded her of Monk Gyatso. Reluctantly, she pulled back after several moments, scrubbing at her eyes briefly when they began to sting.

"Are you two okay now?" she asked, glad that her voice didn't crack and give away how much seeing Iroh had affected her.

"Of course." Iroh squeezed Zuko's shoulders with his free arm, making Zuko smile faintly. "As if Zuko could do anything to make me angry with him."

Rinzen raised an eyebrow pointedly at Zuko and he rolled his eyes back at her. "Yeah, yeah, I know you told me so." He reached across Iroh to shove her shoulder.

"Serves you right for doubting me," she retorted, swatting at his hand in return.

"Some things never change," Iroh sighed wearily, but he grinned fondly all the same as he tightened his hold on both of them before letting go to retrieve the kettle he had placed over the fire and pouring out three cups of jasmine tea. To Rinzen's surprise, Zuko accepted his cup without protest, sipping it quietly.

Within the next few minutes, the rest of the group had gotten up and joined them with cups of tea of their own, still rubbing the sleep from their eyes and stifling yawns between sips of tea, and Zuko finally spoke once they were all seated around the dim campfire.

"Aang is missing. We don't know where he could be, or whether we can even find him before the comet arrives."

"I see," Iroh said quietly in response, his eyebrows furrowing slightly. "My guess, then, is that you've come here to ask me to fight Ozai in Aang's place. And I can't do that."

"Uncle, you're the only person other than the Avatar who can possibly defeat the Father Lord," Zuko protested, seemingly unaware of the slip-up he had made even as Katara caught Rinzen's eye across the campfire and they both bit their lips to stifle a giggle at Zuko's expense.

"You mean the Fire Lord," Toph corrected from Zuko's other side.

"Th-that's what I said!" he retorted, flustered.

"We need you to come with us," Rinzen insisted to Iroh, who shook his head.

"It won't turn out the way you think it will. I know you all mean well, but even if I did defeat Ozai - and I don't know that I could - it will be the wrong way to end this war." He poured himself another cup of tea, sipping it thoughtfully. "History would see it as just more senseless violence, a brother killing a brother to grab power. The only way for this war to end peacefully is for the Avatar to defeat the Fire Lord."

"And then…" Zuko hesitated. "Then would you come take your rightful place on the throne?"

Iroh shook his head again. "No. Someone new must take the throne. An idealist with a pure heart and unquestionable honor." He looked up at Zuko. "It has to be _you_ , Prince Zuko."

"Unquestionable honor?" Zuko repeated, stunned. "But-" He glanced around at everyone else, hoping to find someone on his side, but they were all nodding in agreement. He glanced up at Rinzen next and she shrugged mildly.

"Hey, you may have made some mistakes along the way, but you're here now and that's what matters. Iroh's right. You belong on that throne." She tried not to think about whatever future awaited the two of them if Zuko became Fire Lord.

"But-" Zuko tried again helplessly, but Iroh reached out to squeeze his nephew's shoulder gently, silencing him.

"You have struggled, yes, and you have suffered. But you have also followed your own path, and restored your own honor. And only _you_ can restore the honor of the Fire Nation."

Zuko swallowed thickly before dropping his gaze to the empty cup clutched tightly in his hands. "I'll try," he conceded reluctantly.

"What if Aang doesn't come back?" Toph asked tentatively after a long moment, bringing them back to the situation at hand.

Iroh exhaled thoughtfully. "Sozin's Comet will arrive by dusk today, and our destinies are upon us. Aang will face the Fire Lord." He bit his lip. "When I was a boy, I had a vision that I would one day take Ba Sing Se. Only now do I see that my destiny is to take it _back_ from the Fire Nation so that the Earth Kingdom can be free again."

"That's why you gathered the members of the White Lotus," Suki confirmed, glancing at the campsite around them.

"Yes." Iroh smiled at her before facing Zuko again. "Zuko, you must return to the Fire Nation so that when the Fire Lord falls, you will be there to assume the throne and restore peace and order." Zuko nodded firmly. "Azula will be waiting for you," Iroh cautioned and Zuko frowned.

"I can handle Azula."

"Not alone," Iroh insisted. "You'll need help."

Zuko looked at Rinzen automatically and she raised an eyebrow back at him expectantly. "Oh, come on, are you really going to make me ask you?" he sighed wearily and she cracked a grin.

"Yeah, yeah, okay. She owes me a rematch from the catacombs, anyway."

"Katara?" Zuko addressed the waterbender next, who smiled back at him.

"It'd be my pleasure."

"Well, what about us?" Sokka said suddenly, gesturing to himself, Suki, and Toph. "What's _our_ destiny?"

"What do _you_ think it is?" Iroh answered calmly.

"Well…" Sokka chewed his lip in thought. "I think even though we don't know where Aang is, we need to do everything we can to stop the airship fleet."

"And that way when Aang does face the Fire Lord, we can be right there if he needs us," Toph agreed.

"The airship base is on a small island just off the Earth Kingdom shore," Master Piandao said as he appeared from around the side of the tent, bowing briefly to Iroh before ushering Sokka, Suki, and Toph to their feet. "You should be able to intercept the fleet before the end of the day if you take a giant eel-hound."

"A _what_?" Sokka echoed, an unnerved squeak in his voice as Piandao led him and his group away.

"So if I'm going to be Fire Lord, what will you do when the war is over, Uncle?" Zuko asked as he pushed himself to his feet, Rinzen and Katara following his lead.

"After I reconquer Ba Sing Se, I'm going to reconquer my tea shop." Iroh grinned wistfully. "And I'm going to play Pai Sho every day. One day, I might even win against Rinzen in a fair game."

"Keep dreaming, buddy," Rinzen deadpanned as she crossed over to Appa and ushered him to his feet. "I never play a fair game."

"So unsportsmanlike," Iroh scolded mildly, smiling all the same as he set about clearing the campsite. Zuko approached Rinzen as Katara followed Sokka to say goodbye to him, Toph, and Suki.

"Can we talk for a minute?"

"Sure." She patted Appa's nose gently before turning to face Zuko, frowning when she caught the nervous expression on his face. "What is it?"

He shuffled slightly on the spot, the tips of his ears red with embarrassment. "I, uh...look, I know things haven't exactly been as great as they used to be between us since what happened in Ba Sing Se, and I get it, I messed up really bad and you deserve better than that, but, well, we're kind of about to do something really dangerous now and-"

"Whoa, hey." She reached out instinctively, grasping his hands and lacing their fingers together. "Take a deep breath, you're about to hyperventilate." He sucked in a deep breath obediently before letting it out slowly.

"Sorry," he apologized. "But I've been trying to say this for a while now and now I'm messing it up."

"You're overthinking it. Just say whatever it is you're trying to say," she pointed out dryly.

"You're not helping," Zuko complained, but Rinzen was relieved to see a smile tugging at his lips. "Okay, fine, I'll keep it short." He hesitated before leaning down suddenly and kissing her. She froze, startled, and barely had a moment to register the kiss before he was pulling back again. "I love you. And you don't have to feel the same or say it back!" he said hurriedly when she opened her mouth to respond, still somewhat dazed. "I know you're still sorting things out, and you don't really want to think about us right now. But I just wanted you to know." He squeezed her hands lightly. "Okay?"

"Yeah. Okay." Rinzen didn't have much more time to come to terms with what had just happened as Katara approached them, frowning slightly.

"You two okay?"

"We're fine," Zuko reassured her, releasing Rinzen's hands as he climbed up into Appa's saddle.

Katara looked questioningly at Rinzen, who nodded back to her in agreement before climbing onto Appa's head and grasping his reins. With an exasperated sigh, Katara climbed into Appa's saddle as well, settling in opposite Zuko as Sokka, Suki, and Toph returned on the back of a giant lizard-like creature that Rinzen assumed was the eel-hound Piandao had spoken of.

"Goodbye, General Iroh," Katara called down to Iroh, who nodded back to her before locking eyes with Zuko.

"Today, destiny is our friend, I know it," he reassured his nephew. Zuko swallowed and then nodded back to him as Rinzen snapped Appa's reins lightly.

"Yip-yip." Appa soared into the air with a light push off the ground, Rinzen directing him back towards the Fire Nation as they watched Sokka, Suki, and Toph take off on the eel-hound down below. They raced across the land faster than even Jun's shirshu until they were out of sight well before Appa had broken through the low-lying clouds obscuring the sky.

* * *

As they flew through the day, the sun beat down on them, scorching hot despite it being close to the end of summer, and the sky began to take on the color of rust as an additional burning light began to streak closer and closer to the atmosphere of the planet.

"There it is," Zuko said quietly, nodding up to the light. "Sozin's Comet."

"It's almost beautiful," Katara noted, sounding slightly awed as Rinzen followed their gazes up to the comet. The day they had been training all this time for was finally here, and anxiety gnawed at her stomach at the thought of Aang being somewhere out of reach when they needed him the most.

"Rin?" Zuko's voice jarred her out of her thoughts and she looked away from the comet to find him watching her worriedly. "You okay?"

"Yeah." She dropped her gaze back to the reins tangled in her fingers. "Just worried about Aang. If he even shows up, will he be able to face the Fire Lord?"

"He will," Katara insisted, tearing her eyes reluctantly away from the comet as well to glance back at Rinzen. "He'll come back and he won't lose."

"For the world's sake, I hope you're right." Rinzen focused on guiding Appa down to the Fire Nation's capital city as they neared the shores, recalling the last time she had been brought to the capital city. She had been in chains then, dragged off a ship and shoved into a prison wagon so that she could be taken to Fire Lord Ozai's throne room and shown off by Azula as a victory prize from their takeover of Ba Sing Se. Zuko had been different then, too, firmly on Azula's side and welcomed back as an honored prince of the Fire Nation, or so he had thought at the time. Rinzen dared a peek back up at Zuko now, wondering what was going through his head, only to find him staring ahead at the courtyard of the royal palace in the distance, his expression grim. Following his gaze, she saw what had caught his eye: Azula knelt at the top of the steps, a Fire Sage behind her with a flame-shaped crown in his hands and lowering it slowly to nestle it in her hair.

"By order of Phoenix King Ozai, I now crown you Fire Lord-" The sage broke off when he caught sight of Appa soaring down towards the courtyard, his mouth falling open in shock.

"What are you waiting for?!" Azula snapped harshly as she glanced over her shoulder at the sage. "Do it!" She turned around again, her eyes narrowing when she caught sight of Appa landing at the far end of the courtyard, Rinzen, Zuko, and Katara sliding off the bison and landing on the cobbled stone below.

"Sorry, but you're not becoming Fire Lord today," Zuko called to his sister. " _I_ am."

Azula laughed coldly, holding her hand up to stop the sage when he tried to proceed in crowning her. "You want to be Fire Lord so badly? Fine, let's settle this. The showdown that was always meant to be. Agni Kai!"

Rinzen felt cold dread wash through her at the thought of Zuko being thrown into another fire duel even as Zuko said immediately, "You're on." She shot him a sharp look, but he kept his gaze resolutely fixed on Azula, who smirked as she climbed to her feet somewhat shakily and sauntered down the stairs, a little more stagger in her walk than normal. Her lipstick was smeared, as if she had applied it hastily, and her hair was messier, too, several chunks uneven and jagged as if someone had taken scissors and snipped away at her hair with their eyes closed. Overall, she seemed far unlike the calm, collected Azula Rinzen had known all this time and more unstable than she had ever seemed in the past.

"This isn't a good idea," Rinzen warned Zuko quietly. "She's just trying to separate us, she knows she can't take on all three of us at once."

"Even you admitted to your uncle that you'd need help facing Azula," Katara hissed under her breath on Zuko's other side worriedly.

"I can take her," Zuko reassured her. "I don't know what it is about her, but she's slipping. I'll be okay." He turned to Rinzen, taking her hand and squeezing it. "Get Appa a good distance away, okay? The comet's almost here, there's going to be a lot of fire thrown around."

"Okay." She laced her fingers briefly with his before reluctantly releasing his hand and turning to guide Appa out of the courtyard. She caught sight of Azula's eyes darting between her and Zuko calculatingly. When she met Rinzen's eyes, she paused and then gave her a slow, cold smile, her ruby-red lips twitching at the corners unnervingly. Rinzen suppressed the ominous shiver that ran down her spine as she led Appa away from the palace, leaving him outside before doubling back to the courtyard.

She found Zuko and Azula kneeling away from each other on opposite ends of the makeshift Agni Kai arena, Azula having shed her outer silk robe to reveal the armor she wore underneath. Zuko lifted his head slightly when Rinzen approached, taking her spot beside Katara just underneath the roof that covered the stone pathway surrounding the courtyard.

"Be careful," she told him and he gave her a small smile.

"I will. Keep clear, both of you." Once he received a nod from both Rinzen and Katara, he took a deep breath and climbed to his feet, wheeling around to face Azula as she mirrored his actions on the other side of the courtyard.

"I'm sorry this has to end this way, _brother_ ," she called sarcastically, stumbling slightly into an offensive stance.

"No, you're not," Zuko answered stiffly as he settled into a defensive stance. Rinzen could hear the hint of sadness in his voice despite the unreadable expression on his face.

Azula took that as her cue to attack, sending a sudden blast of blue fire directly at Zuko, but Zuko reacted just as quickly, summoning two large walls of orange fire and combining it into one to block Azula's attack. It was clear that Sozin's Comet was already affecting their bending, as it was more powerful than Rinzen had ever seen either of them bend before.

Azula leapt over the walls of flame, spinning as she kicked forward and sent three quick blasts of blue flames in succession at Zuko, who rolled quickly out of the way and retaliated with another strong stream of orange fire that nearly smothered Azula's attacks out of existence. Azula dropped to the ground, confused by Zuko's sudden confidence in his own firebending, which Rinzen attributed to whatever he and Aang had discovered in the Sun Warrior ruins, before she swung a wave of fire at Zuko that he sliced through with a wall of fire of his own.

The arena was stiflingly hot with all the fire being thrown around that Rinzen could feel drops of sweat trickling down the back of her neck and beside her, Katara swiped at her forehead periodically, clutching at the stone pillar beside them worriedly as they watched the battle in front of them rage on.

With a burst of fire at her feet, Azula launched herself into the air, using the flames to skate on the cobblestones around Zuko and try to get at his back. He spun just as quickly, dropping close to the ground so that he could create a ring of fire that flew out and pushed Azula off her feet. She skidded back on the ground, disoriented and somewhat frightened as she stumbled to her feet, her hair in disarray and cascading down her back as it fell out of the messy topknot she had pulled it into.

"What's the matter? No lightning today?" Zuko called, panting slightly with the effort of firebending. "Afraid I'll redirect it?"

"Oh, I'll show you _lightning_!" Azula snarled back as sparks danced on her fingertips. She drew the lightning around her as the air crackled with energy, and Zuko instinctively took a deep breath, bracing himself to redirect the lightning.

Tension hung in the air for several long moments as the lightning gathered in Azula's hands, and she looked up suddenly, her hair hanging wildly in her face as her eyes darted away from Zuko and focused on Rinzen and Katara a few feet behind him. Rinzen realized what she was about to do a split second before she flung her hand out, firing the bolt of lightning.

Instinctively, Rinzen shoved Katara out of the way despite her shout of protest, but before she could brace herself somehow, Zuko threw himself in front of her. The lightning hit him in the chest and threw him across the courtyard, leaving him sprawled on the ground and twitching slightly as electricity raced through his body. A large part of his shirt was burned away, revealing a dark red burn on his chest where the bolt had made impact, and the scent of burned flesh and ozone filled the air.

" _No_!" The scream tore itself out of Rinzen's throat before she could stop herself even as her feet began to carry her forward, stumbling down the stone steps and running across the courtyard to where Zuko lay, but then a wave of blue fire made her skid to a halt as Azula leapt forward, cackling madly as she sprang at Rinzen. She threw out her hands to blast Azula away with a funnel of wind, sending the firebender careening backwards into a stone pillar.

Katara hurried forward, water already curling around her hands from her waterskin and starting to glow with healing power, but winced as Azula threw a bolt of lightning between her and Zuko to stop her in her tracks.

"I'd really rather our family physician look after little Zuzu, if you don't mind," she sneered before flipping herself up onto the roof of the courtyard and then raining down a volley of blue fire at them both. They dove out of the way behind another stone pillar as the flames rushed around them.

"She won't let us get to him," Rinzen said worriedly, glancing around the pillar at where Zuko lay. He had stopped twitching, but was now deathly still, his eyes closed and his skin paler than she had ever seen it.

"I know," Katara said, exhaling slightly in frustration as she glanced around for something that could help them, before something caught her eye. Rinzen followed her gaze to a metal grate further down the pathway and heard the sound of running water underneath - an underground sewer system.

Formulating a plan, she turned back to Katara. "There are chains on the walls near that grate. Grab them and get ready. I'll lead her to you."

Katara nodded grimly, pushing herself to her feet and waiting for an opening before taking off at a run, drawing Azula's attention briefly before Rinzen swung herself out from behind the pillar and onto the roof with a burst of air at her feet. She landed nimbly on the tiles before sending a blade of air that Azula dodged, leaping over it and sending an arc of fire at Rinzen. Rinzen rolled out of the way, making sure to aim herself in the direction of the grate.

"So how does it feel?" Azula taunted, staggering closer, and Rinzen pushed herself to her feet just in time to block a wave of fire with another blast of air. She could still feel the searing heat rushing past her, almost singing her skin.

"How does _what_ feel?" she snapped back, trying to keep Azula distracted as she continued to step backwards and towards where Katara was waiting.

"Knowing that I killed him." Azula smirked cruelly, sparks dancing on her fingers again. "And after I shot your brother, too. Guess you just can't save anyone you love, can you?"

Red-hot anger rushed through Rinzen and, as if they had a mind of their own, her fingers curled into a fist and surged forward, making contact with Azula's face. The Fire Nation princess's nose broke with a sickening crunch and she shrieked in pain even as a bolt of lightning shot out from her fingertips, grazing Rinzen's shoulder as it zig-zagged past her. Ignoring the searing pain in her shoulder, she jumped back and grabbed the edge of the roof, swinging herself down and knowing Azula would follow. With a screech of rage, Azula jumped down after her, landing on the grate and stumbling slightly as her foot caught in one of the holes.

"Now!" Rinzen shouted, jumping back just as Katara bent the water around Azula, leaving her suspended within a large bubble and frozen except for her eyes, which were wide and darting around with fear and uncertainty. A thin trickle of blood trailed up from her broken nose into the water.

Rinzen grabbed one end of the chains from Katara, reaching into the bubble and helping Katara wind the chains around Azula's wrists before dragging her down to the floor slowly until she was forced to kneel on the grate. They looped the last of the chains through the holes of the grate to keep Azula secure before Katara bent the water back down into the tunnel below. Rinzen tightened the chains with one last firm tug before nodding to Katara, who took off at a run towards Zuko.

"You - you filthy _peasants_!" Azula wheezed furiously before frustratedly breathing out a blue stream of fire at Rinzen, who jumped back to avoid being burned.

"Be glad that all I did was break your nose," she answered once she recovered her balance. "We'll be back for you later." She turned and hurried after Katara, finding her on her knees beside Zuko and pressing her hand to his chest, rivulets of water glowing underneath her fingers as they worked to heal the wound. Instinctively, Rinzen dropped onto her knees on Zuko's other side and grasped for his hand even as Katara looked up, tears welling up in her eyes.

"Rin, I - I don't know how much I can do. I had to use water from the Spirit Oasis to heal Aang, I don't even have that now."

"Just do what you can," Rinzen insisted, feeling her own eyes stinging as her vision blurred. "Keep trying."

Swallowing, Katara dropped her gaze back to her work, drawing more water out of her waterskin and pressing it against Zuko's chest, and Rinzen focused on lacing her fingers with Zuko's, clutching his hand like a lifeline. The tears began to stream down her face, her hair sticking to her damp cheeks, but she made no attempt to brush it away as she desperately prayed that Katara's healing worked. Several long moments crawled by before Zuko's fingers twitched slightly against hers and he finally stirred, wincing in pain as he opened his eyes slightly.

"Katara?" he rasped as he peered up at Katara, who beamed back at him even as tears flowed freely down her cheeks. "Thank you." He struggled to push himself upright and Rinzen pressed a hand carefully against his back, supporting him as he sat up. He gave her a small, weak smile. "I'm okay, Rin." It was quite clearly a lie, given that he was grimacing in pain even as he said it, but it made Rinzen choke on a relieved sob all the same. She saw his expression shift into alarm for a brief moment before she collapsed against him and buried her face into his neck, clinging to him tightly. "Ow," he said faintly even as his arm slid around her in return.

"Sorry," she managed to get out thickly, but made no effort to let him go.

"Rin!" Katara scolded even as she sniffled. "You can't just throw yourself on him like that when he just-!" She fell silent abruptly and Rinzen assumed Zuko had just given her a look before he turned his head slightly to bury his face into Rinzen's hair.

"It's okay," he reassured her softly. "I'm okay, don't cry."

"You could've _died_ , stupid," she hiccuped, swatting half-heartedly at his shoulder and he winced again.

"Maybe don't hit me when I could've died, then?" he offered tentatively, but she could hear the smile in his voice as he tightened his hold on her.

"Stupid," Rinzen repeated, sniffling as she pulled back just enough to catch the expression on his face, fond and amused despite how much pain he was clearly still in, before tugging him in to kiss him roughly, her nose bumping against his in her eagerness. He froze, startled, but then he kissed her back tenderly, his arm pulling her in closer. "I love you," she blurted out when she finally broke the kiss and reluctantly pulled away. The look of shock and awe on his face as he stared at her made all the agonizing she had gone through trying to come to terms with how she felt about him worth it.

"About damn time," Katara muttered as she pushed herself to her feet. "Do you have any idea how emotionally exhausting it is to be around you two?"

Zuko shook himself out of his daze, tearing his eyes away from Rinzen to roll them at Katara. "Hey, we figured it out in the end, didn't we?" He held his hand out to Rinzen and she grasped it to carefully help him to his feet, letting him lean heavily on her side and looping her arm around his waist.

A scream of rage jolted Rinzen back to the present as she looked over at where they had left Azula chained, finding her writhing around and breathing out jets of blue fire as she struggled against her chains. Slowly, her screams tapered off into broken sobs as she slumped against the grate, defeated, and Rinzen looked up to find Zuko watching his sister silently, his expression a mix of pity and bitter anger.

"We should get you inside," Katara said quietly and Zuko reluctantly looked away from Azula, frowning back at her. "You still need a lot of healing before you should be on your feet, and the war's far from over until Aang and the others arrive." The unspoken "if they arrive" still hung in the air, but none of them voiced the concern out loud.

"We can go to my rooms," Zuko agreed reluctantly. "They're close by." He glanced at Rinzen. "We should try to find Sora if we can, he'll be able to help us get control of the palace."

"Way ahead of you, buddy." Sora hopped down the ruined steps of the palace, crossing the distance to them with a few long strides. "The Fire Sages told the guards the moment you arrived," he explained before giving Zuko a critical once-over. "You look like you've seen better days."

Zuko rolled his eyes, but smiled faintly all the same. "It's good to see you, too. Are your mom and brother safe?"

"Yeah, I made sure they'd be out of the city before the comet arrived just like you told me to," Sora reassured him before giving Rinzen a bright smile. "Hi, Rin."

"Hi, Sora." Rinzen couldn't help a smile back at him; his excitement was infectious. "I'm glad you're okay."

"You, too." He ushered them into the palace, Rinzen and Katara supporting Zuko on either side as they helped him inside and down the hallways until they reached Zuko's rooms. Zuko and Sora kept talking the entire time, Sora trading information on the various guards and staff around the palace and whose side they were on while Zuko gave him instructions to follow on his behalf, since Katara insisted he remain on bed-rest until he had healed at least a little more. Once they got Zuko settled in his bed and Katara set to work healing the deep wound in his chest again, Sora took off to start securing the palace and taking Azula into custody.

"Rin, what happened to your shoulder?" Zuko said suddenly and Rinzen glanced down, grimacing at the charred, blistered mess of skin there and reminded suddenly of the searing pain in her shoulder.

"Oh. Azula grazed me with another lightning bolt. I'm okay."

"I should really heal that," Katara said worriedly, looking up from where her hands were pressed to Zuko's wound, but Rinzen waved it off.

"I'm fine, really. He's way worse off than I am." Zuko narrowed his eyes at her, but she raised an eyebrow pointedly back at him. "Look, if you're capable of standing of your own volition and proving me wrong, be my guest."

"Don't you dare," Katara threatened when Zuko frowned contemplatively, as if considering pushing himself out of bed, and he grudgingly settled down again. "I'll heal her later, don't worry," she reassured him under her breath and Rinzen rolled her eyes when he relaxed at that.

She took a post at the window, peering out at the courtyard for any sign of Aang and the others as Sozin's Comet disappeared over the horizon at last, leaving the sky no longer rust-colored, but rather an inky black dotted with stars as night fell over them.

"Anything?" Katara asked after several minutes and Rinzen tore her eyes from the window to find Zuko fast asleep, a fresh bandage wrapped around his chest to cover the wound, and Katara frowning back at her as she capped her waterskin.

"No, not yet. How is he?"

"Healing, which is about as much as we can expect, considering the extent of the damage," Katara sighed as she closed the space between them and drew out a stream of water to press it against Rinzen's injured shoulder. She hissed slightly at the sudden jolt of agony, but then it abated as the cool healing effect of the water soaked into her shoulder, absorbing the pain as her skin began to knit itself slowly back together. "Sorry, I should've gotten to this the moment I saw it," Katara apologized, but Rinzen shook her head.

"It's not that bad," she reassured the waterbender. "He was hurt much worse." She glanced down at her shoulder, finding the wound almost entirely gone and instead the skin darkened to a deep red where the burn had once been. "I think it's all healed," she offered.

"Well, it'll definitely scar, but yeah, it's healed." Katara pulled her hands away and got to her feet. "I'm going to wait out front with Appa for Aang and the others, if you want to stay here with Zuko."

Rinzen felt a twinge of relief, nodding gratefully. "Yeah, I'll stay here. Come get me when they arrive?"

"I will." Katara gave her a small, tired smile. "This war's almost over, Rin."

"I hope so." Rinzen moved across the room to take a seat on the edge of the bed as Katara slipped out quietly. It was finally quiet enough that she found the tension leaking out of her shoulders and the ache of every muscle in her body began to sink in. She tilted her head back against the headboard of the bed, shutting her eyes as the day's events threatened to overwhelm her, and felt Zuko's hand knock against her knee lightly. Startled, she opened her eyes and looked down to find him peering up at her sleepily.

"Hey."

"Hi." She managed a small smile. "Thought you were asleep."

"I was for a minute." He stifled a yawn before shuffling aside slowly and then patting the newly-open spot beside himself. After a moment's hesitation, Rinzen shifted to lay down beside him, nestling her head against his shoulder and careful not to touch the bandages on his chest. He lifted one hand to brush it against her shoulder, his fingertips tracing the shape of the burn scar on her shoulder. "Does it hurt?"

"No, I'm okay. Got the Dr. Katara seal of approval." She ducked her head just enough to press a kiss to his shoulder and he relaxed slightly. "How're you doing?"

"Fine," he answered, a hint of stubbornness in his voice.

"I'd pinch you for lying, but that'd probably just hurt you more, so I'm going to settle for glaring at you until you tell me the truth." Rinzen tilted her head back to narrow her eyes at him and he lasted all of two seconds before caving in.

"Okay, fine, it hurts a little. I'll get some sleep soon, promise, just…" He reached up to brush his fingers through her hair slightly. "You said you loved me." He cracked a smile even as she rolled her eyes.

"If we're stating the obvious, then you said it first."

"I also told you that you didn't have to say it back," he reminded her, tilting his head just enough to brush a kiss against her forehead.

"Well, seeing you almost die made me feel like saying it back, okay?" She hid her face into his shoulder to avoid seeing the expression on his face.

"Rin-" he began softly after a long pause.

"Don't tell me you're okay, I know you are," she mumbled against his shoulder, cutting him off. "Just - it's not like I only said it because you almost died, I've had my feelings for you figured out for a while now. But it took me thirteen years and thinking my brother was dead to tell him I loved him. At least it only took me a few months and thinking you were dead to tell you."

She heard him snort with amusement quietly above her. "Yeah, okay, I guess that's an improvement." He pressed a kiss into her hair. "So, talking things out. That's a thing we should probably try now on, okay?"

"Sounds like a plan." She tilted her head up slightly to catch him looking back down at her, his expression soft and fond, and couldn't stop herself from smiling as she leaned up to steal a brief kiss from him. "Now go to sleep before I knock you out."

"You can't keep threatening me like this, I'm the Fire Lord now," he reminded her as he obediently lay back, shutting his eyes.

"Yeah, yeah, and I bet sharing a bed with the Fire Lord is considered scandalous, too," she deadpanned as she ducked her head to press another kiss to his collarbone, just above where the bandages ended.

He huffed a chuckle, not bothering to open his eyes. "Guess you'll just have to marry me to make it less scandalous, then."

"I'll think about it," she retorted, stifling a smile into his shoulder. Within moments, he was fast asleep, and she soon gave in to exhaustion as well, curled into his side as she dozed off, hoping to wake up to a world at peace at last.

* * *

 **Happy New Year! I stayed up until 3 AM writing this, but it was so worth it. I've got only one more chapter to go in this story, but I'm going to try and put it up with the first chapter of the sequel so that they're both available at the same time.**

 **Hope you enjoyed this chapter!**


	18. A World At Peace

**Chapter 18: A World At Peace**

* * *

Soft giggles and hushed voices greeted Rinzen when she awoke next, dim pre-dawn light shining in through the window as she kept her eyes shut against it.

"They're so cute all curled up together like that," Suki whispered, a hint of laughter in her voice.

"It's about time they sorted things out," Sokka agreed under his breath before hissing slightly in pain. " _Ouch_ , Katara, be gentle."

"I'm doing my best, you're the one who went and broke your leg," Katara grumbled in response.

"I can't see them, are they adorable?" Toph asked excitedly. "I bet they're adorable."

"Come on, you guys, quit making fun of them," Aang scolded mildly, although he was definitely grinning broadly as he said it, and it was his voice that jolted Rinzen fully awake. If he was here and joking around with everyone, that had to mean that the war was well and truly over.

"Hey, I'm just saying, I called it even back when she was imprisoned in the bunker," Sora chuckled from somewhere near the doorway and Rinzen wondered vaguely if he and Aang had had a chance to meet properly yet.

"You realize we can hear you all, right?" Zuko pointed out dryly over Rinzen's head, his voice thick with sleep. "Keep it down, you're going to wake Rin up."

"Too late, I'm already up," Rinzen mumbled into his shoulder before reluctantly shuffling back and sitting up against the bed's headboard. "So where exactly did _you_ disappear to these past couple days?" she addressed Aang, who was seated beside Toph on the floor against the opposite wall, mirroring her casual pose with his legs stretched out in front of him. He was shirtless, several new burns, cuts, and scrapes littering nearly every inch of his skin that she could see, but there was an odd aura of peace and calmness surrounding him that she had never quite noticed before.

"See, about that." He flushed slightly, the tips of his ears turning a faint pink. "I ended up on the back of a giant lion-turtle."

"A _what_ ," Rinzen said, too tired to even try to make it sound like a question.

"Told you she wouldn't believe me," Aang sighed, giving Toph a pointed look.

"I can feel that 'I told you so' look on the side of my head, Twinkletoes," the earthbender grumbled in response, elbowing him harshly and making him wince. "I gave her too much credit, my mistake."

"No, no, give me a few minutes to actually wake up and I might actually process what you said," Rinzen insisted, rubbing her eyes wearily with the heel of her palm. "A _lion-turtle_?"

"It's okay, it sounds made-up to me, too," Zuko reassured her, shuffling a little closer to nestle his head against the curve of her hip.

"No, lion-turtles are real," she explained, looking back down at him and unable to help a smile at how comfortable he looked beside her. "It's an old story Aang and I were told when we were little. Lion-turtles used to hold all of humanity on their backs and gave them the power to bend the elements only in defense when they ventured out into the Spirit Wilds to hunt. But that was way before the first Avatar came to exist."

Zuko frowned, nonplussed, although she figured it was partly because he still seemed to be half-asleep. "I've never heard any stories like that before."

"Remind me to find a book of legends for you sometime." She ruffled his messy hair affectionately, marveling at how he leaned into her touch instinctively, before glancing up at Aang, who was watching the two of them with a faint smile. "Seriously, though, I thought they went extinct centuries ago."

"Yeah, so did I until I woke up on this one's back. I must've sleepwalked to him in the middle of the night," he answered. "In any case, he led me exactly to where Fire Lord Ozai would arrive and left me to wait for him."

Zuko tensed slightly beside Rinzen and before she could stop him, he was pushing himself upright, leaning heavily against her side as he grimaced briefly in pain. She pressed a hand to the small of his back to support him, but his eyes remained fixed on Aang, whose smile faded at how serious Zuko looked suddenly. "And you're here now," he said slowly. "So that means my father is..."

Aang's expression cleared as he grinned broadly. "Oh, no. He's downstairs in the dungeons along with Azula."

Zuko blinked back at him, taken aback. "What?"

"I didn't kill him. Just like I said I wouldn't." Aang shrugged modestly. "I did take away his bending, though. So he's harmless now. Can't hurt anyone ever again."

"You...took away his _bending_?" Zuko echoed, bewildered.

"You can just take away somebody's bending now?" Rinzen added, just as confused.

Aang frowned back at her. "Well, it's not like it's an easy process. And I'm not gonna go around taking away the bending of just anybody."

"I know, I trust your judgment," she reassured him.

He relaxed slightly. "The lion-turtle told me that before there was element-bending, people used to bend the energy within themselves. He taught me how to bend the energy of others, as long as my spirit remains uncorrupted in the process." He cast an apologetic look at Zuko. "Your dad _is_ kind of a drooling mess right now, though. Having his bending taken away kind of messed with his head. Sorry. He'll probably get better."

Zuko exhaled heavily, dropping his head against Rinzen's shoulder. "No, it's fine. I'm going to have to see him eventually, though."

"Not until you're allowed off bed-rest," Katara retorted from where she was kneeling beside Sokka, who had one leg stretched out in front of him at an oddly-bent angle as Katara worked on healing it. Suki sat on his other side, her fingers intertwined with his as he squeezed her hand tightly and grimaced with pain.

"On that note, it's a good thing you're awake," Sora spoke at last, drawing Zuko and Rinzen's attention to him leaning on the doorway. "We've got the palace secured and the staff and guards are loyal to you. The Fire Sages are ready to go ahead with the coronation whenever you are. Which I'm gonna assume is only when Katara says so, because she clearly knows best."

"See? Sora gets it," Katara muttered without looking up from Sokka's leg, which made Aang laugh. Rinzen noticed Katara pause for a moment, glancing briefly at Aang with a tender smile before returning to her healing.

"I'd rather not delay the coronation too much," Zuko reasoned as he lifted his head off Rinzen's shoulder again. "It'd only increase the instability in the country the longer we wait."

"At least give it a few weeks or so," Rinzen suggested as she looked up at him. "You took a pretty bad hit, no one's going to think any less of you for taking it a little easy."

"I can take it easy all I want later," he insisted before glancing back at Sora, his expression setting in determination. "Tell the Fire Sages I want to go ahead with the coronation one week from now. In the meantime, gather every leader from the Earth Kingdom and both Water Tribes so we can officially put an end to this war. You'll need to contact my uncle and the Order of the White Lotus in Ba Sing Se, too. And send word to the Boiling Rock to free all prisoners of war. Use our fastest messenger hawks."

Sora pushed himself off the doorway, smiling. "You got it, Fire Lord." He executed a quick bow, making Zuko wrinkle his nose.

"Yeah, no, don't ever do that again." Grinning, Sora mock-saluted him instead before taking off down the hallway.

"Where's Momo?" Rinzen asked suddenly as she turned back to Aang. "He went missing with you, didn't he?"

"He's outside with Appa," Aang reassured her. "They're both a little spooked with everything that's been happening, but they're okay otherwise." She relaxed marginally, having not realized how worried she had been for their animal companions until then.

"Okay, try standing now," Katara encouraged, sitting back slightly, and Sokka pushed himself to his feet, grimacing as he attempted to put weight on his injured leg. Suki got to her feet as well to wrap an arm around Sokka's waist to support him and Katara pursed her lips thoughtfully as she took in the condition of his leg. "Well, you might need a crutch for a couple days, but it'll heal fine otherwise." She glanced around the room as she climbed to her feet. "I think we could all just do with some rest."

"There are plenty of guest rooms down the hall," Zuko offered. "You guys can take your pick."

"Thanks," Aang said, giving him a grateful smile as he climbed to his feet. "We'll figure it out, Zuko, you should get some sleep. You're probably in the worst condition out of all of us."

Zuko leveled him with a mild, offended glare, but Rinzen nudged his side gently with her elbow and he winced. "Okay, point taken," he conceded, shifting to lay down again obediently and pressing his face into her hip.

Aang huffed a chuckle before closing the space between himself and Rinzen, sliding his arms around her shoulders briefly. She leaned into the embrace, squeezing him back gently before reluctantly letting go and then frowning when she realized she had to crane her neck just a little more than usual to look up at him.

"Hey, when did you get so tall? You might actually be taller than me now."

"What?" Aang looked down at himself self-consciously. "Oh. I don't know, I probably just hit a growth spurt or something."

"Great, now Rin's not the taller Twinkletoes anymore," Toph complained as she hopped to her feet to follow everyone out. "I gotta come up with a new nickname for her."

"Nothing mean, please!" Rinzen called as the door closed behind them.

"It's finally over," Zuko said quietly after a moment, his voice half-muffled by Rinzen's hip. She glanced down at him, brushing her fingers through his hair.

"Yeah, looks like it. You okay?"

He exhaled wearily, tilting his head back slightly to look up at her. "I don't know. My father's still alive, which I wasn't expecting. And Azula's not just alive, but dangerously insane. I have to figure out a way to deal with both of them eventually."

"Well, at least your father's firebending is gone," she offered. "So that's one obstacle out of the way."

"I guess." Zuko pressed his head back into Rinzen's hand as he shut his eyes and she ruffled his hair again absently. "That feels pretty nice," he admitted.

"Good, because I'm going to be playing with your hair a lot now that it's long enough and you can't stop me," she teased back, earning a small chuckle from him at last as he reached up and tugged her down until she was nestled at his side again, winding his arms around her to keep her arms pinned down. His hand settled against her back and she could feel the warmth of his palm pressed against the base of her spine.

"I seem to be doing pretty okay at stopping you," he pointed out with a smile.

"No fair, I can't even try to get out of this without hurting you more," she protested, but couldn't stop herself from smiling back as she pressed her cheek against his chest, listening to the steady rhythm of his heart. She couldn't remember the last time she had felt this at ease, with no war or looming battles to worry about and everyone she cared about safe and secure for the foreseeable future.

She felt Zuko's fingers brush through her hair slowly and glanced up to find him looking down at her, smiling faintly as his eyes roamed over her face, as if memorizing it.

"What?" she asked, her cheeks flushing self-consciously under his gaze.

"Nothing." He ducked his head to kiss her cheek. "I've just never seen you this happy before."

"Could say the same for you," she pointed out, leaning up just enough to kiss his jaw in return. She didn't think she had ever seen him smiling so much, not even in Ba Sing Se, and it was both jarring and pleasant to see.

"Well, I _am_ happy," he answered with a small shrug and then winced as the motion pulled at the bandages on his chest. She rolled her eyes before pressing a kiss to his chest just above the bandages.

"Don't strain yourself, you've still got a long way to go before you're healed. Get some sleep."

"Bossy," he complained, but obediently shut his eyes and pressed his cheek against the top of her head. She nestled in against him comfortably, closing her eyes as well and focusing on the sensation of his fingers tracing lazy patterns into her back slowly as she drifted into sleep.

* * *

The next week was a blur as the whole world seemed to scramble to pick itself up in the aftermath of the war that had raged on for a hundred years. Sora acted as a proxy for Zuko most of the time, rushing back and forth between sending letters and issuing commands on his behalf since Katara had insisted that Zuko remain on bed-rest until the last possible moment before he had to get ready for his coronation.

It didn't stop Zuko from trying to get as much work done as possible by himself, as Rinzen discovered two days after Sozin's Comet had passed when she returned from getting herself measured for new formal Air Nomad robes to find him guiltily shoving sheafs of parchment under his covers to keep her from spotting them.

"You don't have to hide anything from me," she pointed out. "I'm not gonna stop you from working as long as it's not hurting you."

Relieved, he pulled out the sheafs of parchment again, spreading them out in his lap. "Sorry. Katara's already been in here twice today to yell at me for trying to get work done."

"She just worries, she means well. She's been fussing over Sokka, too, if that's any consolation." Rinzen took a seat on the bed beside Zuko, peering at the nearest piece of parchment. "What're you working on?"

"Some plans that I'd like to bring up with the Earth King when we all meet with him in a couple weeks in Ba Sing Se." He nudged the parchment over to her. "I was thinking about removing the colonies in the Earth Kingdom and relocating the people there back to the Fire Nation."

"That's a good start," she agreed, reading through the extensive list of Earth Kingdom town names marked as Fire Nation colonies and recognizing some of them as towns she and the others had passed through during their travels. "Sounds like you'll be pretty busy for a while now on," she added, keeping her eyes fixed on Zuko's neat handwriting on the page to avoid looking at him.

"So will you," he pointed out. "You said you wanted to go to the Air Temples and start restoring them, right?"

She looked back up at him, startled that he had remembered what she had said casually months earlier. "I mean, yeah, I guess. But Aang's probably going to be busy for some time, too, and I'd like to at least get started with him there, so it won't be for a while yet."

Zuko frowned slightly, dropping his gaze to the papers strewn across both of their laps. "We're going to have a lot less time to spend with each other, though."

Rinzen tried to ignore the sinking feeling in her stomach at the thought even as she reassured him, "We'll make it work."

He cracked a tiny smile, nudging his shoulder against hers lightly. "Yeah?"

"Yeah." She nudged him back gingerly to avoid accidentally hurting him. "Don't get me wrong, it's not going to be easy, and we're both going to have to make compromises to make this work. A _lot_ of compromises. But we'll figure it out together."

"I'd like that." He leaned in to press a kiss to her forehead, right against the center of her arrow tattoo, and she felt her cheeks warm slightly. Even after all the times they had kissed before, every single brush of affection still flustered her easily. "Promise you'll visit between restoring the temples?"

"Of course I will." She tilted her head up to steal a kiss to his lips, smiling when she felt his lips curve up in response against hers. "You're not getting rid of me that easily. And don't think you're getting out of coming to see the temples when I'm done with them."

"Yeah, I know. I can't wait to see them." He pecked the corner of her mouth in return. A sudden knock on the door made them jolt apart just in time before Sora poked his head in.

"Got a minute? I got a few responses from some governors in the Earth Kingdom that you'll want to go over."

Rinzen raised an eyebrow at Zuko with a wry smile. "Back to work?"

He grinned wearily back at her. "Back to work," he confirmed, waving Sora in.

* * *

The morning of Zuko's coronation dawned, bright and sunny, and Rinzen found herself whisked away with Aang to get ready almost the instant she woke up. Their new formal Air Nomad robes had arrived, twin bundles of orange and yellow fabric accompanied by wooden bead necklaces strung around pendants etched with the Air Nomad symbol, and the first thing Aang did when he saw them was reach for one of the necklaces, his fingers tracing over the carvings slowly.

"You okay?" Rinzen asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine." He clutched the beads tightly, his eyebrows furrowing slightly. "I just haven't seen one of these pendants in a long time. Not since…" He swallowed, but she knew what he had been about to say.

"I wish Gyatso was here, too," she reassured him. "He'd be really proud of you."

He looked up from the pendant, his eyes misty even as he smiled tentatively. "You think so?"

"I know so." She knocked her shoulder against his gently and his smile widened. "Now go get ready, we don't have much time before the coronation starts."

"Yeah, yeah." He gathered the bundle of robes up before heading across the room to where a folding screen had been set up for him to change behind. He paused abruptly in his tracks, turning back to her. "He'd be proud of you, too, you know."

Rinzen felt her throat tighten, swallowing back the lump in her throat and blinking back the sudden stinging in her eyes. "Thanks." Aang gave her another warm smile before disappearing behind the folding screen. Rinzen followed his lead, grabbing her own set of robes and heading for the folding screen on the other side of the room to change into them.

She felt odd once the last of the robes were wrapped around her and the bead necklace was around her neck, the pendant resting securely against her chest. It was as if she automatically stood straighter the moment she was dressed like the elder monks had once been, and when she came around the folding screen to find Aang studying himself critically in the full-length mirror against the wall, she found him standing a little straighter, too.

He turned when he heard her approaching, smiling broadly. "Hey, you look great."

"So do you." She grinned back at him, his enthusiasm contagious. "You look so grown-up now. Except..." She reached out to straighten his collar for him, adjusting the crooked pendant until it lay against his chest. "Okay, now you look grown-up," she confirmed.

He rolled his eyes. "You're never gonna stop fussing over me no matter how old I am, are you?"

"Not a chance." She tapped her knuckles affectionately against the top of his head, wishing for a moment he had hair that she could mess up.

"You should check in on Zuko, make sure he's ready," Aang suggested even as he ducked away from her, grinning.

"Yeah, I will." Rinzen slipped out of the room, heading back down the hallway to Zuko's room. She stopped in her tracks when she saw Mai leaving his room and shutting the door behind herself. "Oh. You got out of prison, great." She tried to inject some enthusiasm into her voice, but seeing Mai leaving Zuko's room left her feeling far more uncertain and hurt than she should have felt.

"It helps that my uncle's the warden," Mai answered simply with a shrug. "I was just wishing Zuko luck for today." She jabbed a thumb over her shoulder at Zuko's door. "And for the future. You'd better treat him right."

Rinzen flushed slightly, embarrassed. "Look, I really am sorry about before, I didn't mean to get between you two-"

Mai raised one hand, cutting her off. "You didn't get between us. And I owe you an apology for everything I said about you before. He chose you even before he realized it himself, I know that now. And for what it's worth, you make him happier than I probably ever could've. So just...be good to him. That's all I ask."

"I will," Rinzen promised and Mai held out her hand. Rinzen reached out, clasping it tightly, and Mai shook it firmly once.

"Good. Because if you don't, then the Avatar's going to end up being the only airbender alive." She tightened her hold marginally on Rinzen's hand. "Am I clear?"

"Crystal," Rinzen answered, doing her best not to let on how painful Mai's grip was.

"Good." Mai released her hand at last. "I think he could use your help getting ready." She nodded to the door. "See you at the coronation." She turned to head down the hall and Rinzen took the opportunity to tap her knuckles on the door briefly before slipping inside to find Zuko struggling to pull on a dark red silk robe embroidered with gold patterns that would go underneath the Fire Lord's ceremonial robes, wincing in pain as the movement tugged at the bandages wrapped tightly around his chest.

"Need some help?" she offered and he looked up, startled and embarrassed.

"A little," he admitted and she closed the space between them to tug the robes over his shoulders for him before cinching the sash around his waist easily. "Thanks." He leaned down to press a brief, grateful kiss to her cheek before pulling back again to admire her new formal robes. "You look beautiful."

She felt heat rush into her face, unprepared for how flustered the compliment had made her. "Oh. Thanks. You, too. I mean, you look handsome. Not beautiful. Well, no, I mean you do, but you get what I mean."

Zuko raised an eyebrow, amused. "Do I? I don't know, I wouldn't mind if you told me I was pretty more often."

"Shut up." She hid her face against his neck, feeling his shoulders trembling with suppressed laughter as he wrapped his arms around her properly to hold her close, pressing a kiss into her hair.

"Sorry. You just make it too easy sometimes."

"Ugh, you're the worst." Rinzen wanted to pinch his side in protest, but stopped herself just in time when she remembered that he was still injured. "Why do I love you again?"

He huffed a chuckle, nestling his chin against the top of her head. "Been asking myself the same question all week."

"I'd give you an actual answer, but we've only got an hour before the coronation and that's not nearly enough time to list all the reasons," she deadpanned, pressing a kiss to his shoulder before pulling back to find him no longer smiling, his expression pensive as he studied her. "What is it?" she asked, startled by the sudden change in his demeanor.

"Things are going to be different after today." He reached up, running his fingers through her hair and tucking the loose strands behind her ear. "The whole world's going to have their eyes on us."

"Pretty sure the whole world's had their eyes on all of us for a while," she pointed out dryly.

"No, I mean _us_. You and me. People are going to be watching and judging every move we make, everything we say and do now on. Are you sure you're okay with that?"

Rinzen raised her eyebrows. "Zuko, are you trying to talk me out of a relationship with you?"

He flushed, embarrassed. "No, I just - I'd understand if you don't want all the extra baggage that comes with being with me."

"As much as I appreciate you trying to be considerate, extra baggage isn't going to scare me away from you. You're stuck with me for the long haul." She leaned up to kiss him firmly and he relaxed marginally, his hold on her tightening as if he was afraid she would change her mind the moment he let her go.

* * *

Even with the large crowd of people from both Water Tribes, the Earth Kingdom, and the Fire Nation who had shown up for Zuko's coronation, Rinzen found herself feeling a pang of loneliness, especially when they all grouped together by nation - three distinct seas of blue, red, and green - and she was left standing alone, with no sea of orange behind her. Katara and Sokka - still balancing on a crutch - stood beside her, their father resting his hands on his children's shoulders proudly behind them, and Toph stood on Rinzen's other side with what was left of the Freedom Fighters gathered around her. Still, Rinzen could feel the empty space behind her where her people should have been, celebrating the end of a hundred years of war with the rest of the world.

She felt a tap on her shoulder. "Is this spot taken?" She turned to find Iroh standing there with a warm smile on his face, dressed in dark navy robes with silver embroidering on the edges - the colors of the Order of the White Lotus.

"Iroh!" She threw her arms around him, hugging him tightly, and he chuckled as he wrapped his arms around her to return the embrace.

"I'm sorry we arrived so late. It took much longer than we anticipated to secure Ba Sing Se and return order to the city." He nodded to the crowd of people behind him as he pulled back and Rinzen recognized them as other members of the White Lotus from their navy and silver robes, filling in the empty space where the Air Nomads would have stood.

"Better late than never. Zuko will be glad you made it," she reassured him.

A gong struck nearby and the sudden cheers that erupted around her made her turn around to see Zuko emerging from the red curtain hanging over the doors to the palace, dressed fully in regal crimson and gold robes with his hair pulled back into a topknot. He stood so straight that if Rinzen hadn't known better, she would never have been able to tell he had been struck with lightning only a week earlier.

Zuko raised a hand to silence the crowd. "Please. The real hero is the Avatar." He stepped aside and Aang emerged behind him, standing tall and straight as he took his place at Zuko's side. The crowd began to applaud even louder and Aang flushed at the attention, ducking his head humbly, but Rinzen could see the broad smile spreading across his face.

"I knew Aang could do a lot of things, but I didn't know he could turn into a tomato, too," Sokka whispered and Katara elbowed him.

"Quiet, Sokka," she hissed. "This is supposed to be serious."

"I don't know, he looks more like a strawberry to me," Rinzen added under her breath, grinning when Katara elbowed her as well.

"I can't believe Twinkletoes hasn't melted into the stage with how embarrassed he is," Toph snickered. "I can hear his heart racing even from here."

Katara reached across Rinzen to swat at Toph's shoulder. " _Behave_ , you three."

"Children," Iroh sighed, but he was grinning all the same.

Rinzen knew Zuko couldn't hear them from how far away he was, but knew he had seen Katara admonishing them and put the pieces together when he glanced briefly at Aang's red face and bit his lip hard to stifle a smile as he faced the gathered crowd again.

"Today, this war is over," he said once the applause died down. "I promised my uncle that I would restore the honor of the Fire Nation. And I will." Out of the corner of her eye, Rinzen could see Iroh beaming proudly at his nephew, his eyes suspiciously watery. "The road ahead of us is challenging. A hundred years of fighting has left the world scarred and divided," Zuko continued, "But with the Avatar's help, we can get it back on the right path and begin a new era of love and peace."

He knelt down where he stood and Aang took a few steps aside to let a Fire Sage approach, holding an elaborate gold flame-shaped headpiece that he nestled into Zuko's hair.

"All hail Fire Lord Zuko!" As Zuko rose to his feet again, the crowd exploded into cheers so loud that Rinzen's ears rang. Aang and Zuko exchanged a smile before stepping forward together, facing the cheering masses, and Rinzen felt the last bits of tension left over from their final battle drain out of her. The world had been damaged irreparably, but they would be able to begin fixing what they could together.

* * *

"Come _on_ , you guys!" Aang called, winding his way around the stone pillars of the Eastern Air Temple and leaping at least three feet into the air every few steps in his excitement.

"It'd be nice if you actually told us what we're here for," Rinzen pointed out as she and the others followed Aang down the hallway. He had received a note from Guru Pathik not long after Zuko's coronation asking him to come to the Eastern Air Temple as quickly as possible, and since they were all heading to Ba Sing Se - excluding Suki, who had gone back to Kyoshi with the other Kyoshi warriors to continue to rebuild their village - to meet with the Earth King, they decided to stop by the Eastern Air Temple on the way to the city.

"Trust me, it's a surprise," Aang insisted as he turned to face her again. "For you, especially. It's in the courtyard just up ahead."

"Should I be worried?" Rinzen glanced up at Zuko beside her. "Did he tell you anything?"

He shook his head, his hair loose and hanging in his eyes. He had forgone his crown and topknot in favor of leaving his hair down, as he often did whenever he wasn't expected to be the Fire Lord in public. "Your guess is as good as mine."

Rinzen cast a hopeful look at Toph, Katara, and Sokka behind her, but they shook their heads as well. "Ugh, what good are any of you as friends if you can't even ruin surprises for me?" she grumbled goodnaturedly. She had meant it at least half-seriously, but it still made Zuko laugh as he slid his arm around her shoulders, which made her relax a little.

He had rarely so much as smiled in the past few days since being crowned Fire Lord, having been piled with so much paperwork and legislative forms that he had hardly even left his study until Rinzen had had to practically tear him away from his desk so that they could leave for the Eastern Air Temple and Ba Sing Se. Despite her promise to him before the coronation that they would make it work, she was already beginning to feel the pressure straining at their relationship, new as it was.

"Rin, come here!" Aang called again from up ahead and Rinzen rolled her eyes before walking a little faster, rounding the corner and stopping in her tracks when she saw the courtyard of the temple. Zuko stumbled a little beside her, not expecting her to stop so suddenly, but then his mouth fell open as he stared at the scene in front of him.

"Are those…?" he said faintly.

"Yep." Aang turned to face them, beaming.

"No way," Sokka said when he, Katara, and Toph caught up to Rinzen and Zuko, his eyes widening.

" _Yes_ , way." Aang grinned cheekily.

"There are so _many_!" Katara gasped.

"Sure are," Aang confirmed cheerfully.

"Quit being cryptic, Twinkletoes, you know I can't see what you're talking about," Toph complained.

"They're sky bison." Rinzen's voice cracked as she took in the giant lumbering creatures in the courtyard, contentedly grazing on the grass. "A whole _herd_ of them."

"Yeah." Aang's smile softened as he turned his attention back to Rinzen. "Some locals said they'd spotted them in the area and herded them here to the temple. Guru Pathik's been taking care of them."

"Aang, there are _babies_." Rinzen pointed at the calves, miniscule balls of fluff that huddled against their mothers' sides, while some slightly-larger balls of fluff rose into the air, wiggling their tiny six legs plaintively as they floated upwards.

"I know, they're adorable." Aang grinned broadly before he took in the expression on Rinzen's face. "Are you _crying_?"

"Shut up." Rinzen sniffled before she could stop herself, scrubbing at her stinging eyes. "I thought Appa was the only one left and now we've got a whole herd of sky bison here. Has he met them?"

"Sure, he's fitting right in." Aang pointed and sure enough, Rinzen could see their own sky bison nestled in among the herd, his saddle the only distinguishing factor as he lay down and allowed some of the younger calves to clamber onto him and bite his ears with a long-suffering expression on his furry face.

"We should probably rescue him," Katara suggested, frowning as she watched Appa wince when one calf tugged on his ear particularly hard.

"Yeah, I'll go get-" Rinzen broke off when she noticed one of the bison trudging closer, eyeing her warily. "Uh, hi, there?" she offered and the bison only blinked back at her, slow and considering. She seemed to be only a few years younger than Appa, and her horns were just a little smaller than a typical sky bison's horns would have been.

"She doesn't look friendly," Sokka warned when Rinzen took a step closer to the bison.

"She's just nervous, she'll relax once she sees that we're not a threat." Rinzen took another step forward, holding her hand out so that the bison could sniff at her fingers. After a few tentative snuffles, the bison pressed her warm, wet nose into Rinzen's palm, allowing her to rub her muzzle affectionately. "Hi, pretty girl," she crooned and the bison grumbled softly, closing her large brown eyes contentedly.

"I think you just got yourself a sky bison, Rin," Aang said, grinning, and Rinzen glanced over her shoulder at him, alarmed.

"What?" She let go of the bison and took a few steps back, but the bison whined and followed after her. "I can't have a sky bison, the monks said I was too old to bond with one."

"You ever think maybe the monks didn't actually know everything?" Aang pointed out, frowning now. "There's nothing wrong with bonding a little late."

Rinzen tried to take another step back and this time, the bison took the hint, whimpering as she inched backwards again. The sound tore at Rinzen's heart. "I can't have a sky bison," she protested again weakly.

"Why not?" Zuko said suddenly and she looked up to find him studying the bison contemplatively. "We're already building a stable big enough for Appa at the palace. We could add another one for her."

Rinzen swallowed before taking a few steps forward again, resting her hand against the bison's muzzle. "What do you think, girl? You wanna be stuck with me now on?" she murmured and the bison snuffled softly again before licking at her fingers affectionately. Blinking back the tears before they threatened to overwhelm her, she looked back at Zuko, who raised an eyebrow expectantly. "Okay. I'm keeping her."

"You got a name in mind for her?" Aang asked and Rinzen glanced back down at the bison, smiling.

"Yeah. Her name's Lychee." It was what she had always wanted to name a sky bison if she had ever bonded with one, but she had never thought she would get to actually use it.

"She's definitely sweet enough to have earned that name," Katara offered, watching Lychee nuzzle in against Rinzen and nearly knock the airbender off her feet in her eagerness to cuddle. Rinzen buried her face into Lychee's forehead, right against the brown arrow markings, and let the hot tears in her eyes fall into the sky bison's fur, overwhelmed and dizzy with how happy she was.

"Come on, let's go see the babies," Aang said from somewhere behind her, clearly giving her some space as he led Katara, Sokka, and Toph further into the courtyard.

Zuko lingered behind, waiting for Rinzen to pull her face out of Lychee's fur. "You okay?" he offered tentatively, closing the space between them to thumb away a stray tear underneath her eye.

"Yeah. Yeah, I just-" She swallowed back the lump in her throat. "I never thought I'd get to have this." She brushed her fingers affectionately through the fringe of fur hanging over Lychee's eyes. "I was told my whole life that no sky bison would ever bond with me. I was too slow at learning to airbend. Not spiritual enough. But she wants me, anyway."

"Maybe she sees something in you that the monks never did," Zuko suggested and she managed a tentative smile.

"Maybe." She reached out to take his hand, guiding it to Lychee's forehead. "Here, you'd better get her used to you." He hesitated before stroking Lychee's fur slowly as the bison grumbled softly, eyeing him for a moment before nuzzling into his touch. "She likes you," Rinzen said, relieved.

"Of course she does, I'm great with animals." Zuko grinned back at her warmly before leaning in to steal a soft kiss from her. "Are you happy?"

"Unbelievably happy," she confirmed.

"Babies, no, come back!" Aang shouted from the courtyard and Rinzen glanced over, startled, to see him reaching helplessly for the tiny calves floating upwards into the sky, their eyes wide and alarmed as they flailed desperately to try and remain on the ground.

"Should we help them?" Zuko asked, a hint of laughter in his voice.

"Probably," Rinzen agreed, unable to help a grin as she reluctantly released Lychee's muzzle and they both headed further out into the courtyard to help Aang retrieve the frantic baby bison and bring them back down to the earth.

* * *

 **And that concludes Book 2: Rebalance! The first chapter of Book 3: Harmony is in the works and will be out as soon as I finish it up! It'll mainly follow some of the post-show comics (The Promise, The Search, and Smoke and Shadow), but I might add more to the plot based on some of the other comics in the future.**

 **I'll make an update to this story the moment I put up the first chapter of the sequel so that you're all notified.** **Thanks for sticking around for the ride and I look forward to seeing you guys again in Book 3: Harmony!**


	19. Author's Update

**Author's Note**

 **Hey, everyone! Just so that you know, the first chapter of Book 3: Harmony has been uploaded! I thought it would take much longer to write it, but the words just kind of began flowing the moment I uploaded the last chapter of this story last night.**

 **/ s / 13184430 / 1 /** **The-Last-Airbenders-Book-Three-Harmony**

 **I look forward to seeing you guys in Book 3!**

 **~Bat.**


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